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arXiv:physics/0211038 · Optics Letters

Dense atom clouds in a holographic atom trap

Raymond Newell, Jennifer Sebby-Strabley, Thad G Walker

Published Jul 15, 2003• 44 citations
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Abstract

We demonstrate the production of high-density cold 87Rb samples (2 x 10(14) atoms/cm3) in a simple optical lattice formed with YAG light that is diffracted from a holographic phase plate. A loading protocol is described that results in 10,000 atoms per 10 microm x 10 microm x 100 microm unit cell of the lattice site. Rapid free evaporation leads to a temperature of 50 microK and phase space densities of 1/150 within 50 ms. The resulting small, high-density atomic clouds are very attractive for a number of experiments, including ultracold Rydberg atom physics.

DOI
10.1364/ol.28.001266

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Chinese Journal of Physics•Dec 1, 2007•3 citations
We demonstrate the production of high-density cold 87Rb samples (2 x 10(14) atoms/cm3) in a simple optical lattice formed with YAG light that is diffracted from a holographic phase plate. A loading protocol is described that results in 10,000 atoms per 10 microm x 10 microm x 100 microm unit cell of the lattice site. Rapid free evaporation leads to a temperature of 50 microK and phase space densities of 1/150 within 50 ms. The resulting small, high-density atomic clouds are very attractive for a number of experiments, including ultracold Rydberg atom physics.
We demonstrate the production of micron-sized high-density atom clouds of interest for mesoscopic quantum information processing. We evaporate atoms from $60\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$, $3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{14}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{atoms}∕{\mathrm{cm}}^{3}$ samples contained in a highly anisotropic optical lattice formed by interfering diffracted beams from a holographic phase plate. After evaporating to $1\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$ by lowering the confining potential, in less than a second the atom density reduces to $8\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{13}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$ at a phase space density approaching unity. Adiabatic recompression of the atoms then increases the density to levels in excess of $1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{15}\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{cm}}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$. The resulting clouds are typically $8\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ in the longest dimension. Such samples are small enough to enable mesoscopic quantum manipulation using the Rydberg blockade and have the high densities required to investigate collision phenomena.
We present the experimental production and characterization of a dense cold atomic cloud of 88Sr^{88}\text{Sr}88Sr atoms, optimized for the future studies of light transport in highly dense regimes. Using narrow-line molasses on the 689 nm transition, combined with a far off-resonant optical dipole trap, we achieve spatial densities as high as 7.9×1013 atoms/cm37.9 \times 10^{13} \, \text{atoms/cm}^37.9×1013atoms/cm3 and optical depths up to 64. This approach stands out from previous methods by integrating narrow-line molasses with an optical dipole trap, enabling high-density samples without relying on evaporative cooling. Unlike traditional absorption imaging, which becomes inaccurate in such dense regimes, we demonstrate that phase-contrast imaging (PCI) can reliably reconstruct the in-situ density profile even for highly spatially and optically dense samples. The use of a spatial light modulator instead of a fixed phase plate in the PCI setup provides enhanced flexibility and control of imaging parameters, making this imaging technique robust against imaging artifacts and adaptable to varying experimental conditions. Moreover, we derive theoretical conditions for reliable PCI operation in dense regimes and validate these experimentally, showing excellent agreement with time-of-flight measurements even at the highest densities. Our results establish a robust method for producing and characterizing dense atomic clouds.
We present experiments with cold atoms in optical dipole potentials which are directed towards developing an integrated coherent atom optics with micro-optical systems. We describe an experiment on evaporative cooling in a far-detuned optical dipole trap for ⁸⁷Rb. The dipole trap is created by a solid state laser at a wavelength of 1030 nm. To achieve high initial phase space densities allowing for efficient evaporative cooling, we have optimised the loading process from a magneto-optical trap into the dipole trap. Starting with an initial phase space density of 2 × 10⁻⁴ the trap depth was ramped down and temperatures below 200 nK and phase space densities of about 0.2 could be reached. These investigations aim at the creation of an ’all-optical’ BEC based on a simple experimental scheme. As an example for an integrated atom optical system, we present the transport of atoms in a ring-shaped guiding structure, i.e. optical storage ring, for cold atoms which is produced by a micro-fabricated ring lens.
We study the behavior of cesium atoms confined in far-detuned laser traps and submitted to blue Sisyphus cooling. First, in a single focused yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) beam, the atomic cloud has a rod shape with a $6\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ transverse waist radius, a temperature of $2\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$, and a transient density of 1012atoms/cm3{}^{12}{\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{s}/\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}}^{3}12atoms/cm3. For this sample, we have not detected any influence of photon multiple scattering on the atomic temperature, in contrast to previous measurements in isotropic samples. Second, the YAG laser is used to produce a $29\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ period hexagonal optical lattice in which we directly observe the localization of the atoms by absorption imaging. Equilibrium densities on the order of 1013atoms/cm3{10}^{13}{\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{t}\mathrm{o}\mathrm{m}\mathrm{s}/\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}}^{3}1013atoms/cm3 are achieved in this structure.
We demonstrate experimentally the generation of one-dimensional cold gases of 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms by diffuse laser cooling. A horizontal slender vacuum glass tube with a length of 105 cm and diameter of 2 cm is used in our experiment. The diffuse laser light inside the tube, which is generated by multireflection of injected lasers, cools the background vapor atoms. With 250 mW of cooling light and 50 mW of repumping light, an evenly distributed 1-m-long profile of cold atom cloud is obtained. We observe a factor 4 improvement in the atomic optical density for a typical cooling duration of 170 ms and a sub-Doppler atomic temperature of 25 $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$. The central number of detected cold atoms remains constant for a free-fall duration of 30 ms. Such samples are ideal for many quantum optical experiments involving electromagnetically induced transparency, electronically highly excited (Rydberg) atoms, and quantum precision measurements.
We have built an apparatus for setting up a double magneto-optical trap (double MOT) which allows more than 10 Rb atoms to be loaded in 15 seconds. This compact system consists mainly of a stainless steel chamber and a homemade glass cell. The two chambers are spatially separated by a small diameter transfer tube for differential pumping. The stainless steel chamber is maintained at a pressure of 10 Torr, enabling fast capturing of background Rb atoms. The optically cooled atomic clouds are pushed by a laser beam towards the glass cell which is in a much higher vacuum. Under this condition, the glass cell provides a rather long life time for holding the atoms. After the atoms are loaded in the temporarily bright MOT, a semi-dark type MOT compression is employed to reach a spatial density of 1×10 atoms/cm. The compressed atom clouds are further cooled by polarization gradient cooling to a temperature of 30 μK. The high phase space density cloud is suitable for experiments related to ultracold atoms.