Optical molasses

Lett, Paul D.; Phillips, William D.; Rolston, S. L.; Tanner, Carol E.; Watts, R. N.; Westbrook, Christoph I

doi:10.1364/josab.6.002084

Cited by 408 publications

(303 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Transmission through the cloud is recorded using a fast photodiode with a 20 MHz bandwidth. The optical path length ℓ is determined from time of flight imaging of the cloud [17], giving ℓ = 0.9 ± 0.1 mm.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical non-linearity in a dynamical Rydberg gas

Pritchard¹,

Gauguet²,

Weatherill³

et al. 2011

J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys.

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Abstract. We use the technique of electro-magnetically induced transparency (EIT) to probe the effect of attractive dipole-dipole interactions in a highly excited Rydberg gas. The transient character of the EIT response is investigated by rapidly scanning the probe laser through resonance. We characterize the resulting cooperative optical non-linearity as a function of probe strength, density and scan direction. For the 58D 5/2 Rydberg state, an atom density of 1.6 × 10 10 cm −3 and a positive frequency scan we measure a third-order non-linearity of χ (3) = 5 × 10 −7 m 2 V −2 . For the reverse scan we observe a second order non-linearity of χ (2) = 5 × 10 −6 mV −1 . The contrasting behaviour can be explained in terms of motional effects and resonant excitation of Rydberg pairs.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optical non-linearity in a dynamical Rydberg gas

Pritchard¹,

Gauguet²,

Weatherill³

et al. 2011

J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys.

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“…(3). This equation is the generalization of the heuristic expression used by Phillips and co-workers [8] to account for saturation effects in an optical molasses. In the simulation, the MOT beams are chosen to have Gaussian profiles truncated to the diameter of the quarterwaveplates.…”

Section: Theoretical Description For Numericsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Theoretical estimates for near-resonant atom traps concentrate either on the capture [7] or on the cooling [8]. We develop a simple and heuristic generalization of the semiclassical radiation pressure expression for the case of multiple saturating laser fields and inhomogeneous magnetic field.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An atom faucet

Wohlleben

Chevy

Madison

et al. 2001

The European Physical Journal D

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Abstract. We have constructed and modeled a simple and efficient source of slow atoms. From a background vapour loaded magneto-optical trap, a thin laser beam extracts a continuous jet of cold rubidium atoms. In this setup, the extraction column that is typical to leaking MOT systems is created without any optical parts placed inside the vacuum chamber. For detailed analysis, we present a simple 3D numerical simulation of the atomic motion in the presence of multiple saturating laser fields combined with an inhomogeneous magnetic field. At a pressure of P Rb87 = 1 × 10 −8 mbar, the moderate laser power of 10 mW per beam generates a jet of flux Φ = 1.3 × 10 8 atoms/s with a mean velocity of 14 m/s and a divergence of < 20 mrad.

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“…Polarization gradient cooling then becomes dominant, and we switch to the much larger friction coefficient given by [27] …”

Section: B Line Polarization Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%