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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)

A Compact Cold Atom Gravimeter Utilizing a Grating Magneto Optical Trap

Sangwon Seo, Jae Hoon Lee, Sang-Bum Lee, Sang Eon Park, Meung Ho Seo, Jongcheol Park, Sang Lok Lee, Hyun-Gue Hong, Taeg Yong Kwon

Published Jun 26, 2023• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

For a wide range of applications quantum gravimeters demands miniaturizing the physics package of a sensor which is, in laboratory environments, as big as a few meters. One approach to this end is adopting unconventional magneto-optical traps (MOT) such as pyramid MOTs [1] and grating MOTs (gMOT) [2]. In particular, grating MOT has opened an interesting opportunity to integrate complex experimental apparatuses into a planar chip [3], [4].

DOI
10.1109/cleo/europe-eqec57999.2023.10231885

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For a wide range of applications quantum gravimeters demands miniaturizing the physics package of a sensor which is, in laboratory environments, as big as a few meters. One approach to this end is adopting unconventional magneto-optical traps (MOT) such as pyramid MOTs [1] and grating MOTs (gMOT) [2]. In particular, grating MOT has opened an interesting opportunity to integrate complex experimental apparatuses into a planar chip [3], [4].
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The magneto-optical trap (MOT) is an essential tool for collecting and preparing cold atoms with a wide range of applications. We demonstrate a planar-integrated MOT by combining an optical grating chip with a magnetic coil chip. The flat grating chip simplifies the conventional six-beam configuration down to a single laser beam, and the flat coil chip replaces the conventional anti-Helmholtz coils of cylindrical geometry. Up to 106{10}^{6}106 cold 87Rb{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms are trapped by the planar-integrated MOT, with the atom cloud being approximately 6mm6\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\mathrm{mm}6mm above the chip surface. This configuration effectively reduces the volume, weight, and complexity of the MOT, bringing benefits to applications including gravimeter, clock, and quantum memory devices.
Abstract Magneto-optical traps (MOTs) composed of magnetic fields and light fields have been widely utilized to cool and confine microscopic particles. Practical technology applications require miniaturized MOTs. The advancement of planar optics has promoted the development of compact MOTs. In this article, we review the development of compact MOTs based on planar optics. First, we introduce the standard MOTs. We then introduce the grating MOTs with micron structures, which have been used to build cold atomic clocks, cold atomic interferometers, and ultra-cold sources. Further, we introduce the integrated MOTs based on nano-scale metasurfaces. These new compact MOTs greatly reduce volume and power consumption, and provide new opportunities for fundamental research and practical applications.
Abstract Diffraction gratings have simplified the optical implementation of magneto-optical traps (MOTs) to require only a single input beam, however reaching high atom number and fast loading has proven to be a challenge. We equipped an atom chip with a grating surface and paired it with a velocity-tunable 2D+-MOT as an atomic source to facilitate efficient loading together with magnetic trapping. Using uniform grating illumination, we magneto-optically trap 1.0 ( 1 ) × 10 9 atoms within one second, cool them to 14.1 ( 3 ) μ K , and transfer a quarter of them into the magnetic chip trap. This is a key step towards simple portable quantum sensors employing (ultra-)cold atoms.