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Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference

An Oscillating-Gradient Magnetic Trap for Strong-Field-Seeking Neutral Atoms

Eric Cornell, Chris Monroe, Carl Wieman

Published May 12, 1991• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

The major limitation on densities of neutral atoms achievable in magnetic traps is collisional lossl1 Most magnetic traps are “weak- field-seeker” traps, that is, they provide a local minimum in the magnitude of the magnetic field, towards which are attracted atoms in a hyperfine state.

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Article

William Arie van Wijngaarden, J. J. Clarke

A neutral atom trap is proposed consisting of a magnetic field generated by a pair of anti-Helmholtz coils and a fringing electric field of a parallel plate capacitor. The electric field shifts the energy minimum ofthe trap away from the point where the magnetic field is zero thus preventingatom loss from the trap due to Majorana transitions. This trap offers someadvantages over existing traps that are used to study cold atoms.PACS Nos.: 32.80Pj and 03.75Fi

Canadian Journal of Physics•Apr 1, 1998•0 citations
In this article, for the first time in the context of TOP trap, the necessary and sufficient conditions for the adiabatic evolution of weak field seeking states have been quantitatively examined. It has been well accepted since decades that adiabaticity has to be obeyed by the atoms for successful magnetic trapping. However, we show, on the contrary, that atoms can also be confined beyond the adiabatic limit. Hence, our findings open new possibilities to relax the restrictions of atom trapping in laboratories.
We have demonstrated an oscillating-gradient magnetic trap for confining cesium atoms in the lowest-energy spin state. In this state spin-flip collisions are energetically forbidden and thus the primary density- and temperature-limiting process for magnetic traps is eliminated. The atoms are initially collected in a vapor-cell optical trap, then repetitively tossed into a high-vacuum region, focused in three dimensions, and accumulated in the magnetic trap. An optical pumping scheme inserts each new batch of atoms into the magnetic trap without perturbing the atoms already trapped.
It is shown that when a magnetic field is used to support neutral atoms against the gravitational force mgmgmg, the total curvature of the field magnitude BBB must be larger than ${m}^{2}{g}^{2}∕(2{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{2}B)$, where $\ensuremath{\mu}$ is the magnetic moment of the atoms. This limits the minimum confinement strength obtainable for a trapped atomic gas. It is also conjectured that the curvature must be larger than twice this value for a magnetic potential that varies in only one or two dimensions, such as an atomic waveguide.
We report measurements of the stability of magneto-optical traps (MOTs) for neutral atoms in the limit of tight confinement of a single atom. For quadrupole magnetic field gradients at the trap center greater than $\ensuremath{\sim}1\mathrm{kG}/\mathrm{cm}$, we find that stochastic diffusion of atoms out of the trapping volume becomes the dominant particle loss mechanism, ultimately limiting the MOT size to greater than $\ensuremath{\sim}5\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$. We measured and modeled the diffusive loss rate as a function of laser power, detuning, and field gradient for trapped cesium atoms. In addition, for as few as two atoms, the collisional loss rates become very high for tightly confined traps, allowing the direct observation of isolated two-body atomic collisions in a MOT.