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Brazilian Journal of Physics

Analysis of a vapor cell magneto optical trap for sodium atoms based on a two level. Doppler theory

D. M. B. P. Milori, M. T. de Araújo, I. Guedes, Sérgio Carlos Zílio, Vanderlei Salvador Bagnato

Published Jun 1, 1997• 9 citations
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Abstract

We present an experimental study to characterize a sodium vapor-cell magneto-optical trap (VCMOT) in terms of the number and density of trapped atoms, loading rate and load-ing time. We have investigated how these quantities change with the vapor temperature, magnetic- eld gradient and laser intensity. The results obtained are explained with a sim-ple model that employs the Doppler theory. Good agreement is obtained for most of the experimental data. Investigations on the size of the cloud as a function of the trap external parameters are also carried out. The information MOT in order to obtain the maximum presented here is useful in optimizing the number and density of trapped atoms, normally required for experiments of atomic collisions and Bose-Einstein condensation. I.

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We present an experimental study to characterize a sodium vapor-cell magneto-optical trap (VCMOT) in terms of the number and density of trapped atoms, loading rate and load-ing time. We have investigated how these quantities change with the vapor temperature, magnetic- eld gradient and laser intensity. The results obtained are explained with a sim-ple model that employs the Doppler theory. Good agreement is obtained for most of the experimental data. Investigations on the size of the cloud as a function of the trap external parameters are also carried out. The information MOT in order to obtain the maximum presented here is useful in optimizing the number and density of trapped atoms, normally required for experiments of atomic collisions and Bose-Einstein condensation. I.
With a vapor-cell magneto-optical trap (VCMOT) atoms are trapped directly from the equilibrium vapor at room temperature without the complication of a precooling stage. The background vapor, however, can also be a source of energetic atoms hitting and ejecting those atoms already trapped. The background collision limits trap confinement time /spl tau/ and consequently the total number N of atoms trapped in a VCMOT. In order to have large /spl tau/ and N without losing the convenience and simplicity of a VCMOT, double MOT systems were built. In such a system there is a VCMOT with a usual background vapor pressure, and connected to it is another MOT without the vapor. The VCMOT captures atoms and transfers them to the second MOT through a long tube. The tube provides the constriction to maintain the pressure difference between the two MOT chambers. For the second MOT there is a steady supply of slow atoms without the complication of the background vapor, and it can hold a large number of atoms for a long time. Such systems were successfully used for a Bose Einstein condensation experiment and to study cold collisions.
In this work, we have explored ab initio the capture process in a magneto-optical trap by theory, simulation and experiment. We measured the capture velocity vc of a cesium vapor cell magneto-optical trap (VCMOT) from its capture rate R and developed an exact model for the capture rate of a VCMOT in terms of its capture velocity, background density and trap laser beam diameter. We measured the capture velocity of a cesium VCMOT for various trap laser intensities and magnetic field gradients. We observed that the capture velocity is a damping force as well as a restoring force phenomenon. We supported our findings by performing simulations for single atom trajectories in a 1D cesium MOT. Finally, we concluded that two MOTs can have the same capture velocities but very different capture rates, thereby revealing that these are two fundamentally different characteristics of the MOT.
Magnesium atoms are cooled in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) using the 3s2 S0 → 3s3p P1 resonance transition. Magnesium is a simple atom which offers a unique possibility for comparison to the Doppler theory of laser cooling. We measure trap parameters as a function of laser-intensity, -detuning and magnetic field gradient. We find the main features well accounted for by Doppler theory, but temperature measurements gave significant higher values than predicted by the Doppler theory. We also observe radiation pressure effects within the MOT that limit the maximum achievable density. Comparing our results to predictions by models in the literature shows a good agreement. Recently we have improved our set-up and now trap about 150 × 106 atoms.
Magnesium atoms are cooled in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) using the 3s(2 1)S(0) --> 3s3p P-1(1) resonance transition. Magnesium is a simple atom which offers a unique possibility for comparison to the Doppler theory of laser cooling. We measure trap parameters as a function of laser-intensity, -detuning and magnetic field gradient. We find the main features well accounted for by Doppler theory, but temperature measurements gave significant higher values than predicted by the Doppler theory. We also observe radiation pressure effects within the MOT that limit the maximum achievable density. Comparing our results to predictions by models in the literature shows a good agreement. Recently we have improved our set-up and now trap about 150 x 10(6) atoms.
We investigated how the size of ring-shaped clouds of cold, magneto-optically trapped sodium atoms depends on the trapping parameters: magnetic-field gradient and laser intensity, detuning, and misalignment. The experiments were carried out in the low-density regime (N < 106 atoms), and the ring radius was shown to be independent of the number of trapped atoms. The results are explained with a simple model including a coordinate-dependent vortex force and the usual magneto-optical trap forces.
We investigate the loading of a two-color vapor-cell magneto-optical trap for sodium atoms as a function of several operational parameters of the trap. We use two laser frequencies acting in different spatial regions to obtain either enhancement or inhibition of the capture mechanism. We demonstrate that the best enhancement is achieved when the trap operates on a combination of atomic transitions, known as type I tuning, by using a second laser beam to capture atoms through a different combination of transitions (type II tuning).