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Lund reports on atomic physics

Design study of a Magneto-Optical Trap for laser cooling of rubidium atoms.

E. Gustafsson

Published Jan 1, 2004• 2 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

In this Master's thesis a Pyramidal Magneto-Optical Trap for rubidium has been designed.The trap is intended to be used in Atomic Physics courses for demonstration and laboratory exercises.The theory for cooling and trapping 85 Rb and 87 Rb is developed.A detailed design of a low-cost and robust MOT is presented.Two frequency locked laser systems have been built.Most of the components necessary to build the MOT have been identified, borrowed or purchased.The mechanical support to hold a pyramidal mirror has also been realized.The report discusses how to complete the construction of the MOT.

Related papers

Design and construction of a pyramidal Magneto-Optical Trap for laser cooling of rubidium atoms

Stefan Mangnusson

In this Master's thesis a pyramidal Magneto-Optical trap (MOT) for rubidium has been designed and constructed.This will be used in the Atomic physics cources for undergraduate students at Lund Technical University.The theory for Laser Cooling and Trapping is covered.A detailed instruction of how to design and build a low-cost MOT is presented.All necessary components are now in the picosecond laboratory of Lund High Power Laser Facility.This report is a continuation of another Master's thesis, Lund Reports on Atomic Physics (LRAP) 325. 1 8. Chu, C. Cohen-Tannoudji and W.D. Phillips [22].

Lund reports on atomic physics•Jan 1, 2005•1 citation

Development of a magneto optical trap for Rubidium 87

Huzifa Mohammed Ahamed Mohammed Elnour

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A Magneto Optical Trap (MOT) is a configuration formed by three orthogonal pairs of counterpropagating circularly polarized laser beams and a magnetic field gradient. A MOT is used to cool, capture and trap large numbers of atoms in vacuum at very low temperature in K range. In this thesis the development of an experimental setup for realising a MOT of 87Rb atoms is presented. The atomic structure of Rb and the theoretical background of laser cooling and magneto optical trapping was reviewed. The influence of rubidium background pressure in the vacuum system, the laser beam size and the power and frequency on the number of the trapped atoms were studied in literature. The trapping and repumping lasers were characterised experimentally. Six circularly polarised trapping beams with equal power were formed and properly aligned to intersect at the center of the trapping cell. Two optical setups were designed and exploited to investigate and optimise the trapping beam polarisation. The repumping laser beam was successfully aligned and colinearly combined into all the trapping beams. Three different experimental setups for saturated absorption spectroscopy were developed. Saturated absorption spectra showing the hyperfine structure of both 85Rb and 87Rb isotopes were measured and are discussed. Using two saturated absorption spectroscopy setups, the frequencies of both lasers were successfully locked to the trapping and repumping transitions of 87Rb respectively. A rectangular trapping cell was designed and attached to the vacuum system. A pressure of about 10­¯7 mbar was achieved. The magnetic field coils were characterised and affixed on both sides of the cell in an anti-Helmholtz configuration. Setups for imaging and quantification of the 87Rb atoms in the MOT were designed. Finally, the procedures for demonstrating a MOT are presented. In conclusion, the current status of the project is reported, with recommendations for the future work.

•Dec 1, 2013•0 citations

A simple laser cooling and trapping apparatus for undergraduate laboratories

Angela S. Mellish, A. C. Wilson

We present detailed instructions for the construction of a pyramidal-style laser cooling and trapping apparatus. This scheme requires only a single beam, rather than the three pairs of orthogonal beams of the standard magneto-optical trap, which greatly simplifies the geometry and substantially reduces the cost. The trap is based largely on low-cost commercially available items and is simple to construct. It is remarkably insensitive to alignment and reliable to operate. Using a single laser beam with an intensity of 1.3 mW/cm2 we cool and trap more than 4 million rubidium atoms.

American Journal of Physics•Aug 13, 2002•18 citations

High-flux source of laser-cooled rubidium atoms for quantum technology applications

Christopher J. Foot, Sean Ravenhall

We have used a pyramid magneto-optical trap (MOT) to create a compact source of cold rubidium atoms. The four dielectric-coated metal mirrors in vacuum are arranged in the form of a pyramid that creates the light field for a MOT from a single ingoing laser beam. The atoms are pushed out through a hole (aperture) in the apex of the pyramid, in a direction determined by the laser light, to give a flux of Rb-87 atoms greater than 2 × 10^10 per second with a mean velocity of 33 m/s (FWHM of 28 m/s) and a divergence of 58 mrad. The pyramid MOT has a unique mechanism for adjusting aperture size and it is highly suitable for portable quantum technology devices.

•Oct 5, 2020•0 citations

Development of a pyramidal magneto-optical trap for pressure sensing application

S. Supakar, Vivek Singh, Yeddanapudi Pavan Kumar +5 more

We report the development and working of a compact rubidium atom magneto-optical trap (MOT) operated with a hollow pyramidal mirror and a single laser beam. This type of compact MOT is suitable for developing portable atom-optic devices as it works with a smaller number of optical components compared with the conventional MOT setup. The application of this compact MOT setup for pressure sensing has been demonstrated.

arXiv:2311.16708•Optical Engineering•May 2, 2024•1 citation

Optimization of Transfer of Cold Atoms From TwoDimensional Magneto Optical Trap to ThreeDimensional Magneto Optical Trap

Tirumalasetty Panduranga Mahesh, Nobuyuki Takei Supervisors Dr. Kenji Ohmori, Ayan Banerjee

This thesis reports on the generation of MOT for laser cooling and trapping of Rubidium 87 atoms. Probe-pump technique have been used in Rb gas cell and doppler free absorption peaks has been observed. Peak at the crossover frequency will be locked for laser cooling and repump beams. This locked freuqency used in MOT to trap Rb atoms. The technique of optical molasses is used to cool the atoms and quadrupole magnetic field applied to confine or trap atoms at the center of MOT. Two chambers are constructed for 2D and 3D MOT with different pressure. Rb atoms loaded efficiently from the high flux cold atom beam generated in a compact 2D MOT. This is the first step of Bose Einstein Condensate (BEC). A performance of 2D MOT was tested by another main chamber of 3D MOT contains 3 pairs of counter-propagating beams. Over 5x10⁶ atoms trapped in a 3D MOT with loading rate of 1:8x10⁶ atoms/sec. This experiment provided an excellent starting point for future experiment on Rydberg atoms in dense ultracold quantum gases.

•Apr 1, 2018•0 citations
In this Master's thesis a Pyramidal Magneto-Optical Trap for rubidium has been designed.The trap is intended to be used in Atomic Physics courses for demonstration and laboratory exercises.The theory for cooling and trapping 85 Rb and 87 Rb is developed.A detailed design of a low-cost and robust MOT is presented.Two frequency locked laser systems have been built.Most of the components necessary to build the MOT have been identified, borrowed or purchased.The mechanical support to hold a pyramidal mirror has also been realized.The report discusses how to complete the construction of the MOT.
In this Master's thesis a pyramidal Magneto-Optical trap (MOT) for rubidium has been designed and constructed.This will be used in the Atomic physics cources for undergraduate students at Lund Technical University.The theory for Laser Cooling and Trapping is covered.A detailed instruction of how to design and build a low-cost MOT is presented.All necessary components are now in the picosecond laboratory of Lund High Power Laser Facility.This report is a continuation of another Master's thesis, Lund Reports on Atomic Physics (LRAP) 325. 1 8. Chu, C. Cohen-Tannoudji and W.D. Phillips [22].
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: A Magneto Optical Trap (MOT) is a configuration formed by three orthogonal pairs of counterpropagating circularly polarized laser beams and a magnetic field gradient. A MOT is used to cool, capture and trap large numbers of atoms in vacuum at very low temperature in K range. In this thesis the development of an experimental setup for realising a MOT of 87Rb atoms is presented. The atomic structure of Rb and the theoretical background of laser cooling and magneto optical trapping was reviewed. The influence of rubidium background pressure in the vacuum system, the laser beam size and the power and frequency on the number of the trapped atoms were studied in literature. The trapping and repumping lasers were characterised experimentally. Six circularly polarised trapping beams with equal power were formed and properly aligned to intersect at the center of the trapping cell. Two optical setups were designed and exploited to investigate and optimise the trapping beam polarisation. The repumping laser beam was successfully aligned and colinearly combined into all the trapping beams. Three different experimental setups for saturated absorption spectroscopy were developed. Saturated absorption spectra showing the hyperfine structure of both 85Rb and 87Rb isotopes were measured and are discussed. Using two saturated absorption spectroscopy setups, the frequencies of both lasers were successfully locked to the trapping and repumping transitions of 87Rb respectively. A rectangular trapping cell was designed and attached to the vacuum system. A pressure of about 10­¯7 mbar was achieved. The magnetic field coils were characterised and affixed on both sides of the cell in an anti-Helmholtz configuration. Setups for imaging and quantification of the 87Rb atoms in the MOT were designed. Finally, the procedures for demonstrating a MOT are presented. In conclusion, the current status of the project is reported, with recommendations for the future work.
We present detailed instructions for the construction of a pyramidal-style laser cooling and trapping apparatus. This scheme requires only a single beam, rather than the three pairs of orthogonal beams of the standard magneto-optical trap, which greatly simplifies the geometry and substantially reduces the cost. The trap is based largely on low-cost commercially available items and is simple to construct. It is remarkably insensitive to alignment and reliable to operate. Using a single laser beam with an intensity of 1.3 mW/cm2 we cool and trap more than 4 million rubidium atoms.
We have used a pyramid magneto-optical trap (MOT) to create a compact source of cold rubidium atoms. The four dielectric-coated metal mirrors in vacuum are arranged in the form of a pyramid that creates the light field for a MOT from a single ingoing laser beam. The atoms are pushed out through a hole (aperture) in the apex of the pyramid, in a direction determined by the laser light, to give a flux of Rb-87 atoms greater than 2 × 10^10 per second with a mean velocity of 33 m/s (FWHM of 28 m/s) and a divergence of 58 mrad. The pyramid MOT has a unique mechanism for adjusting aperture size and it is highly suitable for portable quantum technology devices.
This thesis reports on the generation of MOT for laser cooling and trapping of Rubidium 87 atoms. Probe-pump technique have been used in Rb gas cell and doppler free absorption peaks has been observed. Peak at the crossover frequency will be locked for laser cooling and repump beams. This locked freuqency used in MOT to trap Rb atoms. The technique of optical molasses is used to cool the atoms and quadrupole magnetic field applied to confine or trap atoms at the center of MOT. Two chambers are constructed for 2D and 3D MOT with different pressure. Rb atoms loaded efficiently from the high flux cold atom beam generated in a compact 2D MOT. This is the first step of Bose Einstein Condensate (BEC). A performance of 2D MOT was tested by another main chamber of 3D MOT contains 3 pairs of counter-propagating beams. Over 5x10⁶ atoms trapped in a 3D MOT with loading rate of 1:8x10⁶ atoms/sec. This experiment provided an excellent starting point for future experiment on Rydberg atoms in dense ultracold quantum gases.