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Optics Letters

Purely optical dark lattice

Tilman Esslinger, Helmut Ritsch, Matthias Weidemüller, F. Sander, Andreas Hemmerich, Theodor W. Hänsch

Published Jul 1, 1996• 25 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We study a new type of optical lattice in which the localized atoms experience a much reduced optical pumping and fluorescence rate. An optical standing wave is tuned to the blue of the F = 2 ? F = 2 transition of the (87)Rb D(2) line and induces periodic optical potentials by coupling the F = 2 ground state to both the F = 2 and F = 3 excited states. A Sisyphus mechanism efficiently cools the atoms into the lattice sites. We adiabatically release the atoms from the optical lattice and measure their momentum distribution with a resolution of one third of a single photon recoil. This allows us to determine the population of the two lowest energy bands in the optical lattice (44% and 20%).

DOI
10.1364/ol.21.000991

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Temperature and optical pumping rates in a bichromatic 3D Optical Lattice

Harald Ellmann, Johan Jersblad, Anders Kastberg

A complete laser cooling setup was built, with focus on threedimensional near-resonant optical lattices for cesium. These consist of regularly ordered micropotentials, created by the interference of four laser beams. One key feature of optical lattices is an inherent ”Sisyphus cooling” process. It efficiently extracts kinetic energy from the atoms, leading to equilibrium temperatures of a few µK. The corresponding kinetic energy is lower than the depth of the potential wells, so that atoms can be trapped.We performed detailed studies of the cooling processes in optical lattices by using the time-of-flight and absorption-imaging techniques. We investigated the dependence of the equilibrium temperature on the optical lattice parameters, such as detuning, optical potential and lattice geometry. The presence of neighbouring transitions in the cesium hyperfine level structure was used to break symmetries in order to identify, which role “red” and “blue” transitions play in the cooling. We also examined the limits for the cooling process in optical lattices, and the possible difference in steady-state velocity distributions for different directions. Moreover, in collaboration with ´Ecole Normale Sup´erieure in Paris, numerical simulations were performed in order to get more insight in the cooling dynamics of optical lattices.Optical lattices can keep atoms almost perfectly isolated from the environment and have therefore been suggested as a platform for a host of possible experiments aimed at coherent quantum manipulations, such as spin-squeezing and the implementation of quantum logic-gates. We developed a novel way to trap two different cesium ground states in two distinct, interpenetrating optical lattices, and to change the distance between sites of one lattice relative to sites of the other lattice. This is a first step towards the implementation of quantum simulation schemes in optical lattices.

•Jan 1, 2002•0 citations
We study a new type of optical lattice in which the localized atoms experience a much reduced optical pumping and fluorescence rate. An optical standing wave is tuned to the blue of the F = 2 ? F = 2 transition of the (87)Rb D(2) line and induces periodic optical potentials by coupling the F = 2 ground state to both the F = 2 and F = 3 excited states. A Sisyphus mechanism efficiently cools the atoms into the lattice sites. We adiabatically release the atoms from the optical lattice and measure their momentum distribution with a resolution of one third of a single photon recoil. This allows us to determine the population of the two lowest energy bands in the optical lattice (44% and 20%).
We create a dark optical lattice structure using a blue detuned laser field coupling an atomic ground state of total angular momentum F simultaneously to two excited states with angular momenta F and F-1, or F and F+1. The atoms are trapped at locations of purely circular polarization. The cooling process efficiently accumulates almost half of the atomic population in the lowest energy band which is only weakly coupled to the light field. The populations of the two lowest energy bands reaches 70%. Kinetic energies on the order of the recoil energy are obtained by adiabatically reducing the optical potential. The band populations are directly mapped on free particle momentum intervals by this adiabatic release. In an experiment with subrecoil momentum resolution we measure the band populations and find good absolute agreement with the theoretically calculated steady state band populations.
We create a gray optical lattice structure using a blue detuned laser field coupling an atomic ground state of angular momentum J simultaneously to two excited states with angular momenta J and J-1. The atoms are cooled and trapped at locations of purely circular polarization. The cooling process efficiently accumulates almost half of the atomic population in the lowest-energy band, which is only weakly coupled to the light field. Very low kinetic temperatures are obtained by adiabatically reducing the optical potential. The dynamics of this process is analyzed using a full quantum Monte Carlo simulation. The calculations explicitly show the mapping of the band populations on the corresponding momentum intervals of the free atom. In an experiment with subrecoil momentum resolution we measure the band populations and find excellent absolute agreement with the theoretical calculations.
The quantum-mechanical transport properties of cold atoms in an optical lattice are described in terms of an analytically tractable model. The atoms are cooled down to the lowest energy band in the periodic optical potential, in the tight- binding limit. The transport mechanisms are coherent tunneling through potential barriers, and momentum recoil at optical pumping. Expressions are obtained for the time-dependent population distributions over the energy eigenstates and over localized states. These expressions are modified in the presence of a dark atomic state, that is uncoupled to the field.
We demonstrate a new type of optical lattice which confines atoms in nearly dark states. The lattice is formed by cooperation of an optical standing wave detuned to the blue with respect to an atomic $F\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1\ensuremath{\rightarrow}F\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1$ transition and a homogeneous magnetic field. The atoms are predominantly localized where the light is purely $\ensuremath{\pi}$ polarized such that they are optically pumped to the mF=0{m}_{F}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}0mF​=0 Zeeman component which is decoupled from the light field. We have observed quantized vibrations of the localized atoms by means of probe transmission spectroscopy. Our ``dark'' optical lattice works in two and three dimensions.
A bichromatic near-resonant dark optical lattice (DOL) with rubidium atoms is demonstrated, which provides confinement in the Lamb-Dicke regime in all spatial dimensions. We apply spatially phase-matched optical potentials for each hyperfine ground state in order to enable improved Sisyphus cooling, undisturbed by optical hyperfine pumping processes. We also explore a method to increase the occupation of the DOL. Initially $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{9}$ rubidium atoms with a temperature of $70\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$ and a density of $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{10}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{atoms}∕{\mathrm{cm}}^{3}$ are prepared in a magneto-optic trap (MOT) and a fraction of $5\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{7}$ atoms is loaded into a far detuned one-dimensional optical lattice (FOL). Subsequently, the MOT is replaced by the DOL, and the atoms become well localized within the microscopic light-shift potentials at a temperature of $10\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$ with a typical density of $3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{11}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{atoms}∕{\mathrm{cm}}^{3}$. We then apply alternating cycles of free evolution in the FOL and cooling and trapping in the DOL, obtaining a fourfold density increase to $1.2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{12}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\text{atoms}∕{\mathrm{cm}}^{3}$---i.e., 7.5% occupation---while maintaining a temperature of $10\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$. In a final adiabatic cooling step we reduce the well depth to 75 times the single-photon recoil energy, which leads to a temperature of $2.8\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$ and a phase-space density of $1.7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$. Despite the increased density, no excess heating or collisional losses are observed.
A complete laser cooling setup was built, with focus on threedimensional near-resonant optical lattices for cesium. These consist of regularly ordered micropotentials, created by the interference of four laser beams. One key feature of optical lattices is an inherent ”Sisyphus cooling” process. It efficiently extracts kinetic energy from the atoms, leading to equilibrium temperatures of a few µK. The corresponding kinetic energy is lower than the depth of the potential wells, so that atoms can be trapped.We performed detailed studies of the cooling processes in optical lattices by using the time-of-flight and absorption-imaging techniques. We investigated the dependence of the equilibrium temperature on the optical lattice parameters, such as detuning, optical potential and lattice geometry. The presence of neighbouring transitions in the cesium hyperfine level structure was used to break symmetries in order to identify, which role “red” and “blue” transitions play in the cooling. We also examined the limits for the cooling process in optical lattices, and the possible difference in steady-state velocity distributions for different directions. Moreover, in collaboration with ´Ecole Normale Sup´erieure in Paris, numerical simulations were performed in order to get more insight in the cooling dynamics of optical lattices.Optical lattices can keep atoms almost perfectly isolated from the environment and have therefore been suggested as a platform for a host of possible experiments aimed at coherent quantum manipulations, such as spin-squeezing and the implementation of quantum logic-gates. We developed a novel way to trap two different cesium ground states in two distinct, interpenetrating optical lattices, and to change the distance between sites of one lattice relative to sites of the other lattice. This is a first step towards the implementation of quantum simulation schemes in optical lattices.