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arXiv:physics/0003049 · Physical Review Letters

Ultrastable CO 2 Laser Trapping of Lithium Fermions

Kenneth M. O’Hara, S. R. Granade, Michael E. Gehm, T. A. Savard, Samir Bali, Charles A. Freed, John E. Thomas

Published May 24, 1999• 106 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We demonstrate an ultrastable ${\mathrm{CO}}_{2}$ laser trap that provides tight confinement of neutral atoms with negligible optical scattering and minimal laser-noise-induced heating. Using this method, fermionic ${}^{6}\mathrm{Li}$ atoms are stored in a 0.4 mK deep well with a $1/e$ trap lifetime of 300 sec, consistent with a background pressure of ${10}^{\ensuremath{-}11}\mathrm{Torr}$. To our knowledge, this is the longest storage time ever achieved with an all-optical trap, comparable to the best reported magnetic traps.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.82.4204

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We demonstrate a novel optical dipole trap that is based on enhancement of the optical power density of a Nd:YAG laser beam in a resonator. The trap is particularly suited for experiments with ultracold gases, as it combines a potential depth of the order of 1 mK with storage times of several tens of seconds. We study the interactions in a gas of fermionic lithium atoms in our trap and observe the influence of spin-changing collisions and off-resonant photon scattering. A key element in reaching long storage times is the use of an ultralow-noise laser. The dependence of storage time on laser noise is investigated.
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Approximately4times10sp84\\times10\\sp84times10sp8 ground state lithium atoms have been confined in a non-zero magnetic field minimum produced by six permanent magnets in an Ioffe configuration. These atoms have a kinetic temperature of 1.1 mK and a peak density of 8times10sp98\\times10\\sp98times10sp9 cmsp−3\\sp{-3}sp−3 The trapped atom lifetime is 240 seconds, limited by collisions with background gas. The tightly confining fields generated through the use of permanent magnets create a trap which is an excellent environment for the study of quantum statistical effects, atomic collisions, and other ultra-low temperature phenomena.
Optical traps provide tight confinement and very long storage times for atomic gases. Using a single focused beam from a CO2 laser, we confine a mixture of spin-up and spin-down fermionic 6Li atoms, achieving storage times of ten minutes, and evaporative cooling to quantum degeneracy in seconds. A bias magnetic field tunes the gas to a collisional (Feshbach) resonance, producing extremely strong spin-pairing. This system now tests current many-body predictions for high-temperature superconductors, universal interactions in neutron stars, and hydrodynamic flow of quark-gluon plasmas, a state of matter that existed microseconds after the Big Bang.
We report on the design and construction of a versatile setup for experiments with ultracold lithium (Li) gases. We discuss our methods to prepare an atomic beam and laser cool it in a Zeeman slower and a subsequent magneto-optical trap, which rely on established methods. We focus on our laser system based on a stable interference-filter-stabilized, linear-extended-cavity diode laser, so far unreported for lithium wavelengths. Moreover, we describe our optical setup to combine various laser frequencies for cooling, manipulation, and detection of Li atoms. We characterize the performance of our system preparing degenerate samples of Li atoms via forced evaporation in a hybrid crossed-beam optical-dipole trap plus confining magnetic trap. Our apparatus allows one to produce quantum gases of N ≈ 105…106 fermionic lithium-6 atoms at nanokelvin temperatures in cycle times below 10 s. Our optical system is particularly suited to study the dynamics of fermionic superfluids in engineered optical potentials.
We report the trapping of neutral atoms in a permanent magnet trap. Approximately 1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}108{10}^{8}108 ground-state lithium atoms have been confined in a nonzero magnetic-field minimum produced by six permanent magnets in an Ioffe configuration. These atoms have a kinetic temperature of 1.1 mK and a peak density of approximately 3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}109{10}^{9}109 ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}3}$. The trapped-atom lifetime is 240 s, limited by collisions with background gas. This trap provides an environment in which quantum-statistical effects, atomic collisions, and other ultralow-temperature phenomena can be studied.