Bulletin of the American Physical Society

Towards microwave modulation in a wavelength-tuned magneto-optical trap

Aaron Allen, Stephen R. Segal, Evan A. Salim, Marika Meertens, Dana Anderson

Published Nov 13, 2009• 0 citations

Abstract

Aaron Allen  ξ Physics REU 2009 JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, and Department of Physics, University of Colorado-Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA  Department of Physics and Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634 ξ Department of Mathematical Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634 In this project, I present a new method for trapping Rubidium-87 atoms. The method proposed is microwave modulation of an external cavity diode laser. The modulation is designed so as to produce frequency sidebands for hyperfine pumping in addition to the main cooling frequency. It is designed for use in magneto-optical trapping. GENERAL MOTIVATION Doppler cooling of atoms is a central process in the field of atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physics. Doppler cooling is central to laser trapping, the formation of Bose-Einstein Condensates (BEC’s), the formation of Fermionic Condensates, advances in quantum computing, and proposed schemes in molecular trapping. Doppler cooling allows atoms to be slowed down many orders of magnitude below their room temperature velocity, which allows these atoms to be more easily controlled and studied. Doppler cooling can best be understood by its relationship to the thermodynamics of atoms. A collection of atoms at room temperature has an average velocity, v , that follows from its kinetic energy and the Maxwell-Boltzman distribution [1];

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