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Journal of Modern Optics

Dissipative atom optics

Pierre Desbiolles, Markus Arndt, Pascal Szriftgiser, Jean Dalibard

Published Oct 1, 1997• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We present an experiment where a cloud of cold caesium atoms is dropped onto an atomic mirror formed by a laser evanescent wave, and is cooled during the reflection. This cooling is due to a single Sisyphus process, transferring atoms from one ground-state hyperfine level to another, less coupled to the evanescent wave. We compare our results with a simple one-dimensional theoretical model. We also give the first experimental evidence for a large increase in the confinement lifetime of the atoms in this ‘gravitational cavity’ because of the cooling process.

DOI
10.1080/09500349708231849

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We present an experiment where a cloud of cold caesium atoms is dropped onto an atomic mirror formed by a laser evanescent wave, and is cooled during the reflection. This cooling is due to a single Sisyphus process, transferring atoms from one ground-state hyperfine level to another, less coupled to the evanescent wave. We compare our results with a simple one-dimensional theoretical model. We also give the first experimental evidence for a large increase in the confinement lifetime of the atoms in this ‘gravitational cavity’ because of the cooling process.
We have designed a gravitational cavity for ultra-cold atoms using an atomic mirror made from an evanescent laser wave.By a temporal variation of the evanescent wave intensity, we have realized various atom optics components such as temporal slits and phase modulators.We have also designed an atom interferometer using this cavity which proves that the coherence of the de Broglie waves can be preserved during the bounce of the atoms on the mirror.Finally we show that an efficient cooling of the atoms inside the cavity can be achieved using a Sisyphus process during the bounce.
A curved mirror for atoms was made from an evanescent wave, formed by internal reflection of a quasiresonant laser beam at a curved glass surface. A cold cloud of cesium atoms was dropped onto the mirror and observed to rebound more than 8 times. The mirror size and reflectivity were studied, and reasonable agreement with a simple theory obtained. With 800 mW of laser power and a mirror of 1 mm diameter, we observed up to 73% of the atoms returning after each bounce, the losses being mostly during the free flight between bounces.
The first experimental observation of the sisyphus cooling in an evanescent light wave was carried out. We have observed a reduction of the transverse energy of Na atoms in a beam upon its reflection from the evanescent light wave, associated with the optical pumping between sublevels of the hyperfine structure of the atomic ground state. The initial transverse momentum of 42 HBARkhasbeenreducedto28HBARk has been reduced to 28HBARkhasbeenreducedto28HBARk in a single reflection event.
We investigate both theoretically and experimentally an elementary Sisyphus process occurring during the reflection of an atom onto a laser evanescent wave propagating at the surface of a dielectric prism. Cesium atoms bouncing at normal incidence may undergo a spontaneous Raman transition between their two hyperfine levels; this leads to an efficient cooling since those levels are light shifted by a different amount by the laser-atom interaction thanks to the large hyperfine splitting. We compare the measured final energy distributions after the bounce with Monte Carlo simulations. A quantitative agreement is obtained when the van der Waals interaction between the cesium atoms and the dielectric prism is taken into account. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
We propose a trap based on an evanescent light wave which is formed on the surface of a conical or a pyramidal cavity in a glass substrate. The far blue-detuned evanescent wave acts as a mirror for atoms, bouncing on it in the gravitational field. In addition, fast and deep Sisyphus cooling in the evanescent wave can be organized for alkali atoms. This leads to the cooling of the atoms down to the recoil-limited temperature and their collection in the field- free region near the bottom of the trap, to form an atomic gas of extremely high density.
Summary form only given, as follows. Atomic cavities provide a convenient way to store atoms without perturbing them too much. We have recently built such a cavity for cesium atoms. A curved mirror was made for an evanescent wave, formed by internal reflection of a quasiresonant laser beam at a curved glass surface. A cold cloud of cesium atoms was dropped onto the mirror (Fig. 1a) and observed to rebound up to 10 times (Fig. 1b). The mirror size and reflectivity were studied, and reasonable agreement with a simple theory was obtained. With 800 mW of laser power and a mirror of 1 mm diameter, we observed up to 73% of the atoms returning after each bounce. We will present these experimental results, and we will also discuss some prospects to investigate the quantum nature of the atomic motion in such a cavity.