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Magneto-Optical Trap Optimization

T.J.G. Verboven

Published Sep 9, 2013• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

To maximize the number of Rubidium atoms loaded into a magneto-optical trap, we investigate the absorption spectrum to determine the detuning of the laser to load as much atoms as possible. We also vary the magnetic field strength and laser intensities to determine the settings for which the trap is loaded the fastest.

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A quantitative study on characteristics of a magneto-optical trap with a single or a few atoms is presented. A very small number of 85 Rb atoms were trapped in a micron-size magneto-optical trap with a high magnetic-field gradient. In order to find the optimum condition for a single-atom trap, we have investigated how the number of atoms and the size of atomic cloud change as various experimental parameters, such as a magnetic-field gradient and the trapping laser intensity and detuning. The averaged number of atoms was measured very accurately with a calibration procedure based on the single-atom saturation curve of resonance fluorescence. In addition, the number of atoms in a trap could be controlled by suppressing stochastic loading events by means of a real-time active feedback on the magnetic-field gradient.
We present a detailed experimental study of the physics involved in transferring atoms from a magneto-optical trap (MOT) to an optical dipole trap. The loading is a dynamical process determined by a loading rate and a density dependent loss rate. The loading rate depends on cooling and the flux of atoms into the trapping volume, and the loss rate is due to excited state collisions induced by the MOT light fields. From this study we found ways to optimize the loading of the optical dipole trap. Key ingredients for maximum loading are found to be a reduction of the hyperfine repump intensity, increased detuning of the MOT light, and a displacement of the optical dipole trap center with respect to the MOT. A factor of 2 increase in the number of loaded atoms is demonstrated by using a hyperfine repump beam with a shadow in it. In this way we load $8\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}{}^{85}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms into a 1 mK deep optical dipole trap with a waist of $58 \ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m},$ which is 40% of the atoms initially trapped in the MOT.
We have directly loaded a cryogenic beam of molybdenum atoms into a magneto-optical trap. By chirping the detuning of the trapping lasers, we were able to enhance the number of atoms loaded into the trap by more than a factor of 2. We optimize the trapped samples for atom number, temperature, and lifetime by varying the laser-cooling parameters. The laser-cooled molybdenum atoms are subsequently transferred to a magnetic trap where we achieve vacuum-limited lifetimes of 100 ms. Comparison of magneto-optical trap and magnetic trap lifetimes allow us to extract partial decay rates of the $z{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{7}{P}_{4}^{\text{o}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}a{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{5}{D}_{4}$ and $z{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{7}{P}_{4}^{\text{o}}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}a{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{5}{D}_{3}$ transitions. We also provide measurements of the isotope shifts for the $a{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{7}{S}_{3}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}z{\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}}^{7}{P}_{4}^{\text{o}}$ transition with up to four times better precision than previously reported. Finally, we discuss the prospect of applying the chriped magneto-optical trap to produce laser-cooled samples of MgF.
In our experiment, firstly, we carry out the loading of single atoms in the magneto-optical trap (MOT) by increasing the quadrupole magnetic field gradient, improving the background vacuum, and reducing the diameters of the cooling and trapping laser beams. Secondly, we get the single atomic fluorescence signal of a high signal-to-background ratio in the MOT by means of reducing the detuning of cooling light and increasing its intensity appropriately, and using the polarization spectroscopy locking technique to suppress the fluctuations of cooling laser. In addition, with the real-time feedback on quadrupole magnetic field gradient, we demonstrate a probability of loading single atoms in the MOT as high as 98%. We also measure the statistical properties of the single atomic fluorescence which is excited by continuous light in the MOT; the measured second-order correlation is g(2)( = 0) = 0.09.