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Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference

High efficiency all-light atom guide

Yitong Song, W. T. Hill

Published Jan 1, 2000• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Summary form only given. One of the more promising proposals for guiding and focusing neutral atoms involves dark hollow laser beams. When detuned blue of resonance, the dipole force the atoms feel in the light confines them to the dark core of the beam where they can be transported with minimal interaction with the light. Dark hollow beams show promise for long distance transport of large numbers of ultra cold atoms, making them a strong competitor with hollow-core fiber atom guides. In this presentation we describe a simple way to construct an all-light atom tunnel with a series of axicons and a moderately powered diode laser beam.

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Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference•Nov 13, 2002•0 citations
Summary form only given. One of the more promising proposals for guiding and focusing neutral atoms involves dark hollow laser beams. When detuned blue of resonance, the dipole force the atoms feel in the light confines them to the dark core of the beam where they can be transported with minimal interaction with the light. Dark hollow beams show promise for long distance transport of large numbers of ultra cold atoms, making them a strong competitor with hollow-core fiber atom guides. In this presentation we describe a simple way to construct an all-light atom tunnel with a series of axicons and a moderately powered diode laser beam.
One of the more promising proposals for guiding and focusing neutral atoms involves dark hollow laser beams. When the frequency of the laser is detuned to the blue of resonance, the dipole force the atoms feel in the light confines them to the dark core where the atoms can be transported with minimal interaction with the light. The ability of the all-light atom guides to transport large number of ultracold atoms for long distances without physical walls leads to the possibility of a versatile tool for atom lithography, atom interferometry, atomic spectroscopy as well as for transporting and manipulating Bose-Einstein condensates. Furthermore since the atoms transported in all-light atom guides do not come into contact with matter, they can in principle be used to transport antimatter as well. In this work a hollow beam atom tunnel is demonstrated by guiding magneto-optically trapped ultracold cesium atoms with a hollow core laser beam. The 1mm diameter diffractionless hollow beam used to construct the atom tunnel was generated from a TEM00 mode diode laser at 852 nm using a series of axicons and simple lenses. The axicon generated hollow beam has a dark core extended for most of its diameter and
A 1-mm-diameter all-light atom guide capable of transporting ultracold atoms tens of centimeters with high efficiency is described. We made the atom tunnel, a dark hollow beam that is blue detuned from resonance, by passing a few tens of milliwatts of energy from a TEM(00) diode laser beam through an optical sequence composed of three axicons and a simple lens. We demonstrate transport of 10(8)Cs atoms approximately 20 cm with minimal heating. We show that it is possible for one to control the direction and speed of the atoms in the tunnel by varying the detuning of the tunnel beam.
Summary form only given. Recent advances in cold atom physics have seen the emergence of the area of atom guiding along hollow core optical fibres and also along light beams. Both employ the optical dipole force which for suitably tuned light can restrict the atoms to the dark hollow region of the fibre or the light beam. In this work, we discuss and analyse a novel scheme of channelling cold atoms into a high-order Bessel beam (via a high-order Laguerre-Gaussian beam) and demonstrate an efficient method of producing such beams.
This thesis is concerned with the guiding of cold atoms using optical forces, which is of great importance in the field of atom optics. Atomic beams can be used for precision sensor equipment, building nano-scale structures, construction of quantum computers and to further the understanding of the properties of atoms. Atoms are guided along light beams using the dipole force; there are two regimes under which this force works. Typically red-detuned guides are used (atoms are attracted towards the light) such guides, however, require large detuning and high powers. In this thesis we investigate the use of blue-detuned (atoms are repelled from the light) hollow light beams of moderate power (a few hundred mW) and confine atoms in the dark centre of the beams. Several magneto-optical traps (MOTs) have been constructed to exploit different guiding geometries. Hollow beams have been generated using a variety of methods; in particular the use of a computer controlled spatial light modulator (SLM) has provided great versatility and simplicity to the experimental arrangements. First, experiments were performed with a low-velocity intense source (LVIS) of atoms. A co-linear LG beam significantly enhances the observed flux, however, considerable difficulties are encountered loading atoms into oblique guides. Imaging a hole in the walls of the light tube was used to improve the loading efficiency. Second, guiding a free-falling atom cloud is performed using a non-diffracting Bessel beam. It is found that while the potential of the Bessel beam is steeper than equivalent LG beams the power distribution across the beam severely limits its usefulness. The next study investigated higher-order LG guide beams generated with an SLM. High order modes have a narrower profile so confine the atoms with less interaction with the guide beam, leading to a more natural guide (as opposed to a pushing force). Finally the SLM was used to create non-trivial beam shapes for beam splitters and interferometers.
Laser-cooled atoms from a low-velocity atomic source are guided in a hollow-core optical fiber using the evanescent-wave dipole force from blue-detuned laser light launched into the glass region of the fiber. The transverse velocity of the guided atoms corresponds to a temperature of $50 \ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}.$ We achieve a maximum flux through a 23.5-cm-long fiber of 590 000 atoms/second with a laser power of 55 mWatts at a detuning of 6 GHz. With larger detunings of 40 GHz, spontaneous emission from the atoms inside the fiber can be suppressed and the atom's internal-state population is preserved. We identify two major loss mechanisms for the guiding process and discuss possible solutions.
Summary form only given. Preparation of slow atomic beams has applications in experiments such as lithography, atom interferometry and in general for transporting atoms, for example from one vacuum chamber to another. Optical methods together with hollow fibers have been successfully employed to transport atoms, and all-optical methods using far off-resonant dipole forces have recently attracted much interest. Such all-optical methods have advantages in that far off-resonant dipole traps have potentially very low scattering rates, especially blue detuned hollow beam traps where atoms are restricted to low intensity regions where perturbations due to the light field are minimum. Optical atom guides also have practical advantages in that they can be switched, and can be easily introduced into high vacuum apparatus. Blue detuned hollow laser beams generated from a hollow optical fiber have been used to guide atoms (Xu et al, 1999; Babiker et al, 1994), and holographically generated doughnut beams have been used to guide and focus a cold beam of metastable neon atoms. In our experiments, we investigate the motion of cold rubidium atoms in far-detuned and near-resonant doughnut beams.