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Journal of the Optical Society of America B

Characterization of a tunable, single-beam ponderomotive-optical trap

Jan L. Chaloupka, David D. Meyerhofer

Published May 1, 2000• 15 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The generation and numerical and optical characterization of a single-beam, ponderomotive-optical trap are discussed. A novel segmented wave-plate technique is described, and experimental results of the trap formation are presented. Several methods to tune the traps are discussed, including techniques to realize a bright trap for dark-seeking electrons. The effects of non-Gaussian incident beams and beams with phase aberrations on trap formation are also described.

DOI
10.1364/josab.17.000713

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The generation and numerical and optical characterization of a single-beam, ponderomotive-optical trap are discussed. A novel segmented wave-plate technique is described, and experimental results of the trap formation are presented. Several methods to tune the traps are discussed, including techniques to realize a bright trap for dark-seeking electrons. The effects of non-Gaussian incident beams and beams with phase aberrations on trap formation are also described.
We demonstrate the generation of single-beam dark toroidal optical intensity distributions, which are of interest for neutral atom storage and atom interferometry. We demonstrate experimentally and numerically optical potentials that contain a ring-shaped intensity minimum, bounded in all directions by higher intensity. We use a spatial light modulator to alter the phase of an incident laser beam, and analyze the resulting optical propagation characteristics. For small toroidal traps (< 50 &mgr;m diameter), we find an optimal superposition of Laguerre-Gaussian modes that allows the formation of single-beam toroidal traps. We generate larger toroidal bottle traps by focusing hollow beams with toroidal lenses imprinted onto the spatial light modulator.
This thesis presents the development of an experimental apparatus to produce Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) with tunable interparticle interactions. The ability to precisely control the strength of these interactions, and even to switch them from repulsive to attractive, allows one to probe novel regimes of condensate physics, from the collapse of attractively interacting BECs and the formation of solitary matter-waves to the observation of beyond mean-field effects in strongly repulsive condensates. The construction and characterisation of both a single and crossed beam optical dipole trap is presented. In the single beam case we develop a technique allowing the guided transport of atoms along the beam and up to a room-temperature surface; a technique which can be used to evaporatively cool the trapped atomic cloud. We produce Bose-Einstein condensates of 87Rb in the F=1, mF=-1 state in this trap, comparing the effect of beam waist on the evaporation trajectory. In the crossed beam trap Bose-Einstein condensation of 87Rb is realised in three distinct trapping configurations, along with a 1D optical lattice formed by changing the polarisation of the beams. A method of direct cooling of 85Rb atoms in the crossed trap is developed using a magnetic Feshbach resonance to precisely tune both the elastic and inelastic scattering properties of the atoms. The resonance used for this work occurs at 155G in collisions between atoms in the F=2, mF=-2 state of 85Rb. Bose-Einstein condensates of up to 40,000 85Rb atoms are formed in this trap and we demonstrate the presence of tunable interatomic interactions, exploring the collapse phenomenon associated with attractive condensates. By loading the 85Rb condensate into a quasi-1D waveguide we show that stable attractive condensates can be created, taking the form of bright solitary matter-waves. We observe a solitary wave of ~2,000 atoms which propagates, without dispersion, along the waveguide over a distance of ~1.1mm. The particle-like nature of the solitary wave is demonstrated by classical reflection of the wavepacket from a repulsive Gaussian barrier.