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arXiv:physics/0103064 · The European Physical Journal Applied Physics

Efficient magneto-optical trapping of a metastable helium gas

Franck Pereira dos Santos, F. Perales, Jérémie Léonard, Alice Sinatra, Junmin Wang, Francesco Saverio Pavone, Ernst Maria Rasel, C. S. Unnikrishnan, Michèle Leduc

Published Apr 1, 2001• 13 citations
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Abstract

This article presents a new experiment aiming at BEC of metastable helium atoms. It describes the design of a high flux discharge source of atoms and a robust laser system using a DBR diode coupled with a high power Yb doped fiber amplifier for manipulating the beam of metastable atoms. The atoms are trapped in a small quartz cell in an extreme high vacuum. The trapping design uses an additional laser (repumper) and allows the capture of a large number of metastable helium atoms (approximately 10 9 ) in a geometry favorable for loading a tight magnetostatic trap.

DOI
10.1051/epjap:2001140

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This article presents a new experiment aiming at BEC of metastable helium atoms. It describes the design of a high flux discharge source of atoms and a robust laser system using a DBR diode coupled with a high power Yb doped fiber amplifier for manipulating the beam of metastable atoms. The atoms are trapped in a small quartz cell in an extreme high vacuum. The trapping design uses an additional laser (repumper) and allows the capture of a large number of metastable helium atoms (approximately 10 9 ) in a geometry favorable for loading a tight magnetostatic trap.
This article presents a new experiment aiming at BEC of metastable helium atoms. It describes the design of a high flux discharge source of atoms and a robust laser system using a DBR diode coupled with a high power Yb doped fiber amplifier for manipulating the beam of metastable atoms. The atoms are trapped in a small quartz cell in an extreme high vacuum. The trapping design uses an additional laser (repumper) and allows the capture of a large number of metastable helium atoms (approximately 109) in a geometry favorable for loading a tight magnetostatic trap.
This article presents a new experiment aiming at BEC of metastable helium atoms. It describes the design of a high flux discharge source of atoms and a robust laser system using a DBR diode coupled with a high power Yb doped fiber amplifier for manipulating the beam of metastable atoms. The atoms are trapped in a small quartz cell in an extreme high vacuum. The trapping design uses an additional laser (repumper) and allows the capture of a large number of metastable helium atoms (approximately 109) in a geometry favorable for loading a tight magnetostatic trap.
A magneto-optical trap for He(2{sup 3}S) metastable atoms has been constructed, utilizing superconducting magnetic gradient coils and a Ti:Sapphire ring laser for pumping the helium 2{sup 3}S-2{sup 3}P transition. The He(2{sup 3}S) atoms are produced by a weak rf discharge in helium gas at a temperature of 1.4K. The discharge products flow through a small orifice into the trap cell, where a fraction of the He(2{sup 3}S) atoms are trapped and ground state helium atoms are rapidly cryopumped by zeolite pellets that cover most of the cell bottom. Preliminary experiments suggest that {approximately}10{sup 6} atoms are trapped in a small volume at {approximately}1 mK, with a trap lifetime of 10-100 msec limited by resonantly-enhanced He(2{sup 3}S)-He(2{sup 3}P) Penning reactions. Ultimately, it is estimated that a substantial number of atoms can be held at ultra-low temperature in near-perfect vacuum, in a dc magnetic trap. Measurements of decay times of the trapped atoms should yield rate coefficients in the quantum regime for He(2{sup 3}S)-He(2{sup 3}P) and He(2{sup 3}S)-He(2{sup 3}S) Penning reactions, and perhaps the He(2{sup 3}S) radiative lifetime.
Intense, highly collimated sources of atoms have many potential applications. Bright beams will be important for competitive high flux and high resolution direct-write techniques in lithography, with the added advantage of parallel writing through laser manipulation. Intense sources will also be useful in other atom optic devices e.g. for loading atoms into hollow fiber waveguides. In atomic physics, many collision processes can only be measured with the sensitivity offered by such high flux sources. We report progress on the development of an intense, collimated beam of metastable helium atoms which improves the brightness generated by conventional nozzle discharge sources by several orders of magnitude. The system uses diode lasers to transversely collimate and then to longitudinally slow the atoms, using Zeeman tuning to compensate for the changing Doppler shift. The slowed, collimated beam is then compressed in a 2D magneto-optic trap before a final collimation stage, to achieve the required increase in intensity. Initial experiments using the helium source for some of the applications above are described.
Intense, highly collimated sources of atoms have many potential applications. Bright beams will be important for competitive high flux and high resolution direct-write techniques in lithography, with the added advantage of parallel writing through laser manipulation. Intense sources will also be useful in other atom optic devices e.g. for loading atoms into hollow fiber waveguides. In atomic physics, many collision processes can only be measured with the sensitivity offered by such high flux sources. We report progress on the development of an intense, collimated beam of metastable helium atoms which improves the brightness generated by conventional nozzle discharge sources by several orders of magnitude. The system uses diode lasers to transversely collimate and then to longitudinally slow the atoms, using Zeeman tuning to compensate for the changing Doppler shift. The slowed, collimated beam is then compressed in a 2D magneto-optic trap before a final collimation stage, to achieve the required increase in intensity. Initial experiments using the helium source for some of the applications above are described.
A commercial Spectra Diode Laboratories, 1.083 μ\muμm diode laser has been used to efficiently spin polarize an atomic beam of He(2$\sp3$S) metastable atoms by optical pumping on the $\rm 2\sp3S\sb1\rightarrow2\sp3P\sb1$ (D1) transition. The diode laser is an InGaAs/GaAs strained multiquantum well with a distributed Bragg reflector to insure single longitudinal mode operation. The laser has been frequency stabilized to less than 1 MHz/hr drift. The helium metastable atom beam is produced by electron impact and the polarization is measured using a Stern-Gerlach analyzer. Atomic polarizations exceeding 97% have been obtained with $\sim$25 mW of power from the diode laser. A number of experiments currently under construction may also make use of the diode laser. These include the production of a spin polarized helium ion beam by optically pumping the metastable atoms in an rf discharge, and the trapping of helium metastable atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT).