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International Conference on Optoelectronics and Microelectronics

An intense 87Rb cold atomic source for atom interferometry

Li Yingying, Xiong Jijun, Zhikun Jiang

Published Jul 1, 2015• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present the implementation and characterization of a slow, intense, and collimated rubidium atomic source for atom interferometry. The continuous87Rb cold atomic beam is produced by a new compact two-dimensional magneto-optical trap. And it is based on the 2D+MOT design but a much smaller size and a higher flux compared to our original LVIS system. The on-line detecting system developed over a combination of time-of-flight and fluorescence methods is used to optimize the beam parameters. The dependence of the beam flux on detuning and power are investigated in detail respectively, for cooling and pushing laser. The re-pumping laser power influence is also considered. With aError! Reference source not found.10 G/cm magnetic gradient, 3ΓError! Reference source not found. red detuning from resonance for cooling laser and 5ΓError! Reference source not found. red detuning for pushing laser, the obtained cold atomic beam has a high flux of 4.7×109atoms/s Error! Reference source not found. Error! Reference source not found. It has a narrow longitudinal velocity distribution with mean velocity 10 m/s and full width at half maximum (FWHM)Error! Reference source not found.2 m/sError! Reference source not found. The two-photo stimulated Raman transitions both in Doppler-free and Doppler-sensitive modes are first proceeded, and stable Raman-Ramsey fringes are achieved with twon/2 Error! Reference source not found. Raman pulses.

DOI
10.1109/icoom.2015.7398763

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We present the implementation and characterization of a slow, intense, and collimated rubidium atomic source for atom interferometry. The continuous87Rb cold atomic beam is produced by a new compact two-dimensional magneto-optical trap. And it is based on the 2D+MOT design but a much smaller size and a higher flux compared to our original LVIS system. The on-line detecting system developed over a combination of time-of-flight and fluorescence methods is used to optimize the beam parameters. The dependence of the beam flux on detuning and power are investigated in detail respectively, for cooling and pushing laser. The re-pumping laser power influence is also considered. With aError! Reference source not found.10 G/cm magnetic gradient, 3ΓError! Reference source not found. red detuning from resonance for cooling laser and 5ΓError! Reference source not found. red detuning for pushing laser, the obtained cold atomic beam has a high flux of 4.7×109atoms/s Error! Reference source not found. Error! Reference source not found. It has a narrow longitudinal velocity distribution with mean velocity 10 m/s and full width at half maximum (FWHM)Error! Reference source not found.2 m/sError! Reference source not found. The two-photo stimulated Raman transitions both in Doppler-free and Doppler-sensitive modes are first proceeded, and stable Raman-Ramsey fringes are achieved with twon/2 Error! Reference source not found. Raman pulses.
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We present a compact, two-stage atomic beam source that produces a continuous, narrow, collimated, and high-flux beam of rubidium atoms with sub-Doppler temperatures in three dimensions, which features very low emission of near-resonance fluorescence along the atomic trajectory. The atom-beam source originates in a pushed two-dimensional magneto-optical trap (2D+2{\mathrm{D}}^{+}2D+ MOT) feeding a slightly off-axis three-dimensional moving optical-molasses stage that continuously cools and redirects the atom beam. The capture velocity of the moving optical molasses is deliberately chosen to be low, approximately 3m/s3\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}3m/s, to reduce fluorescence, and the cooling light is detuned by several atomic linewidths from resonance to reduce the absorption cross section of cooling-induced fluorescence. Near-resonance light from the 2D+2{\mathrm{D}}^{+}2D+ MOT and the push beam does not propagate to the output atomic trajectory due to a ${10}^{\ensuremath{\circ}}$ bend in the atomic trajectory. The atomic beam emitted from the two-stage source has a flux up to $1.6(3)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{9}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\mathrm{atoms}/\mathrm{s}$, with an optimized temperature of $15.0(2)\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$. We employ continuous Raman-Ramsey interference measurements at the atom-beam output to study the sources of decoherence in the presence of continuous cooling, and demonstrate that the atom-beam source effectively preserves high fringe contrast even during cooling. This cold-atom-beam source is appropriate for use in atom interferometers and clocks, where continuous operation eliminates dead time, the slow atom-beam velocity (6--16 m/s) improves sensitivity, the narrow 3D velocity distribution improves fringe contrast, and the low reabsorption of scattered light mitigates decoherence caused by the continuous cooling process.
We present a two-dimensional (2D) magneto-optical trap (MOT) setup for the production of a continuous collimated beam of cold 87Rb{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms out of a vapor cell. The underlying physics is purely two-dimensional cooling and trapping, which allows for a high flux of up to $6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{10}$ atoms/s and a small divergence of the resulting beam. We analyze the velocity distribution of the 2D MOT. The longitudinal velocity distribution of the atomic beam shows a broad feature (full width at half maximum $\ensuremath{\simeq}75 \mathrm{m}/\mathrm{s}),$ centered around 50 m/s. The dependence of the flux on laser intensity, on geometry of the trapping volume, and on pressure in the vapor cell was investigated in detail. The influence of the geometry of the 2D MOT on the mean velocity of the cold beam has been studied. We present a simple model for the velocity distribution of the flux based on rate equations describing the general features of our source.
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We experimentally study the use of two-dimensional magneto-optical trapping (2D-MOT) for the generation of slow beams of cold atoms out of a vapor cell. A particularly high flux of $9\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{9}$ rubidium atoms/s at a mean velocity of 8 m/s is obtained using a combination of magneto-optical trapping in two dimensions and Doppler cooling in the third dimension $({2\mathrm{D}}^{+}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{MOT}).$ The resulting width of the velocity distribution is 3.3 m/s [full width at half maximum (FWHM)] with a beam divergence of 43 mrad (FWHM). We investigate the total flux as a function of vapor cell pressure and determine the velocity distribution of our slow atom sources. For comparison, we also realized a low-velocity intense source (LVIS), first reported by Lu et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 3331 (1996)]. We find that the ${2\mathrm{D}}^{+}\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{MOT}$ yields a significantly higher flux than the LVIS, even when used with an order of magnitude less laser power.
We present an experimental set-up for the production of a beam source of cold 87Rb atoms, which is formed from a trapped cold atomic cloud in a three-dimensional (3D) magneto-optical trap (MOT). Via a radiation pressure difference generated by a specially designed leak tunnel along one trapping laser beam, the atoms are pushed out continuously with low velocity and high flux. The beam was measured to have a mean velocity of 12m/s and a longitudinal velocity spread of about 3m/s under nominal experimental conditions, based on the fluorescence and the time of flight (TOF) technologies. And its flux can be tuned by adjusting the MOT parameters from 108 to 109 atoms/s. Especially the beam performance dependence on trapping laser detuning and power is experimentally studied.