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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Pacific Rim (CLEO-PR)

Proposal on Distancing gMOT Center from Grating Structure

T. Kishimoto

Published Jul 31, 2022• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We propose a new optical configuration for compact quantum sensors that utilizes gratings and distance ultracold atomic samples from the grating structure. We show that the new configuration enables the center of the so-called grating Magneto-Optical Trap(gMOT), which is a laser-cooled ultracold atomic sample, to be realized more than a centimeter away from the grating plane without facing input laser beam power limitations.

DOI
10.1109/cleo-pr62338.2022.10432667

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We propose a new optical configuration for compact quantum sensors that utilizes gratings and distance ultracold atomic samples from the grating structure. We show that the new configuration enables the center of the so-called grating Magneto-Optical Trap(gMOT), which is a laser-cooled ultracold atomic sample, to be realized more than a centimeter away from the grating plane without facing input laser beam power limitations.
The ultrafast and ultracold electron source, based on near-threshold photoionization of a laser-cooled and trapped atomic gas, offers a unique combination of low transverse beam emittance and high bunch charge.Its use is however still limited because of the required cold-atom laser-cooling techniques.Here we present a compact ultracold electron source based on a grating magneto-optical trap (GMOT), which only requires one trapping laser beam that passes through a transparent accelerator module.This makes the technique more widely accessible and increases its applicability.We show the GMOT can be operated with a hole in the center of the grating and with large electric fields applied across the trapping region, which is required for extracting electron bunches.The calculated values of the applied electric field were found to agree well with measured Stark shifts of the laser cooling transition.The electron beams extracted from the GMOT have been characterized.Beam energies up to 10 keV were measured using a time-of-flight method.The normalized root-mean-squared transverse beam emittance was determined using a waist scan method, resulting in ϵ ¼ 1.9 nm rad.The root-mean-squared transverse size of the ionization volume is 30 μm or larger, implying an electron source temperature in the few-10 K range, 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than conventional electron sources, based on photoemission or thermionic emission from solid state surfaces.
We demonstrate a two-dimensional (2D) grating magneto-optical trap (GMOT) with a single input cooling laser beam and a planar diffraction grating using 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb. This configuration increases experimental access when compared with a traditional 2D magneto-optical trap (MOT). As described in the paper, the output flux is several hundred million rubidium atoms/s at a mean velocity of 16.5(9) m/s and a velocity distribution of 4(3) m/s standard deviation. We use the atomic beam from the 2D GMOT to demonstrate loading of a three-dimensional (3D) GMOT with $2.46(7)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{8}$ atoms. Methods to improve output flux are discussed.
We present a two-dimensional grating magneto-optical trap (2D gMOT) for strontium, which produces a slow atomic beam in a compact form factor. The strontium 2D gMOT, using permanent magnets with an atomic dispenser, cools and traps atoms along two dimensions in the diffraction plane of a grating chip using the 1 S 0 → 1 P 1 (blue) transition. The system is configured in such a way that the atoms emitted from the dispenser source do not degrade the diffraction efficiency of the grating for long-term stable use. The performance of the 2D gMOT is analyzed with plug and probe beams, where the atomic source achieves a flux of 2.1 × 10 8 atoms/s and mean velocity of 6.4 m/s for an input laser power of 75 mW. The velocity measurement allows for the precise characterization of atom-photon scattering properties, showing that the compact 2D gMOT is suitable for portable quantum devices such as atomic clocks, quantum sensors, and precision spectroscopy.
Compared with the conventional three-dimensional magneto-optical trap (3D MOT), the grating magneto-optical trap (GMOT) enables the cooling and trapping of atoms with only a single beam of light, thereby significantly reducing the overall volume of the device. Here, a grating chip with high diffraction efficiency is designed, and its parameters are optimized through simulations, which effectively suppresses the power of the zero-order diffracted light. Subsequently, the grating chip is fabricated and characterized, and using this chip, we successfully trap 1.7×106 atoms. The temperatures of the atomic cloud in the axial and radial directions are 5.6 mK and 17.0 mK, respectively. The successful implementation of the atom cooling and trapping experiment based on the diffraction grating provides important reference for the miniaturization of cold atom-based quantum sensors.
We demonstrate for the first time the two-color cooling and trapping of alkaline-earth atoms in a grating magneto-optical trap (gMOT). The trap is formed by a single incident laser beam together with four secondary beams that are generated via diffraction from a nanostructured wafer. A grating structure for a gMOT operating with strontium atoms is optimized and fabricated. We trap 10610^6106 88^{88}88Sr atoms on the 1^11S0_00​ →\rightarrow→ 1^11P1_11​ transition at 461  nm461\;\mathrm{nm}461nm and transfer 25  %25\;\%25% of these atoms to the second cooling stage on the narrower 1^11S0_00​ →\rightarrow→ 3^33P1_11​ intercombination transition at 689  nm689\;\mathrm{nm}689nm, preparing a sample of 2.5×1052.5\times 10^52.5×105 atoms at 5  μ5\;μ5μK. These results demonstrate for the first time the applicability of the gMOT technology in conjunction with two widely differing wavelengths and enable the continued miniaturization of alkaline-earth based quantum technologies like optical atomic clocks.