Magneto-optical trap and mass-separator system for the ultra-sensitive detection of <Superscript>135</Superscript>Cs and <Superscript>137</Superscript>Cs

We report the first magneto-optical trapping of radioactive ¹³⁵Cs and ¹³⁷Cs and a promising means for detecting these isotopes at ultra-sensitive levels by coupling a magneto-optical trap (MOT) to a mass separator. A sample containing both isotopes was placed in the source of a mass separator, ionized, mass-separated, and implanted in a Zr foil within the trapping cell. After implantation, atoms were released from the foil by inductive heating and then captured in a MOT that used large-diameter beams and a dry-film-coated cell to achieve high trapping efficiency. Trapped-atom numbers in the case of either isotope ranged from 10⁴ to 10⁷, as determined from the MOT fluorescence signal. Over this trapped-atom range, the MOT fluorescence signal was found to increase linearly with the number of atoms implanted in the foil and without isotopic bias to within 4%. In principle, this method can then provide a measurement of the ¹³⁷Cs/¹³⁵Cs ratio accurate to within 4% through the direct ratio of MOT fluorescence signals. The fluorescence signal from stable ¹³³Cs, when implanted and released from the foil, was suppressed relative to MOT signals by more than seven orders of magnitude when the system was tuned to trap ¹³⁵Cs or ¹³⁷Cs. When combined with the isotopic selectivity of ≥10⁵ for the mass separator, the overall suppression of ¹³³Cs is expected to exceed 10¹². At present our system delivers atoms from sample to MOT with an efficiency of 0.5%, has a trapped-atom detection limit of 4000 atoms, and achieves a sample-detection sensitivity of one million atoms. Received: 23 August 2002 / Published online: 8 January 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +1-505/667-0440, E-mail: mdd@lanl.gov     

Portable difference-frequency laser-based cavity leak-out spectrometer for trace-gas analysis

We report a portable mid-infrared spectrometer for trace-gas analysis which is based on an all-solid-state difference-frequency-generation laser. The spectrometer provides in situ absorption path lengths of more than 3 km by means of the cavity leak-out method, a cw variant of the cavity ring-down technique. The design, performance, and application of this spectrometer are presented. The light source utilizes difference-frequency generation in a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal pumped by two single-frequency solid-state lasers. A maximum power of 27 μW in the wavelength region near 3.3 μm is achieved using a pump power of 20 mW at 808 nm, a signal power of 660 mW at 1064 nm, and a 50-mm-long PPLN crystal. This corresponds to a conversion efficiency of 0.42 mW/(W² cm). We demonstrate that this portable laser system is suitable as a light source in a cavity leak-out spectrometer. We achieved a minimum detectable absorption coefficient of 1×10^-8/cm (integration time: 2 s), corresponding, for example, to a detection limit of 1 part per billion ethane. This compact trace-gas analyzer with high sensitivity and specificity is promising for various environmental and medical applications. Received: 8 April 2002 / Revised version: 28 May 2002 / Published online: 21 August 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +49-211/811-3121, E-mail: muertz@uni-duesseldorf.de     

Removal of oxygen atoms from a SiO2 surface by incoherent vacuum ultraviolet excimer irradiation

We have demonstrated the non-thermal removal of oxygen atoms from an oxidized silicon surface (SiO₂) on a silicon wafer by the use of a low-power (0.3 mW cm^-2) incoherent vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) light source at 126 nm. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) has shown that a maximum Si concentration of 80% appears at the surface after a 20-h irradiation with 9.8 eV photons, as a result of oxygen removal from the SiO₂ matrix. The surface morphology, however, indicates no damage or melting on the surface even after the irradiation. Received: 15 April 2002 / Accepted: 17 April 2002 / Published online: 10 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Permanent address: Nano-Tech Photon Inc., Shimotomita 4132-1, Shintomi, Miyazaki, 889-1404, Japan RID="**" ID="**"Corresponding author. Fax: +81-985/583-899, E-mail: kubodera@opt.miyazaki-u.jp     

Efficient cooling and trapping of strontium atoms

We report the capture of cold strontium atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) at a rate of 4 x 10(10) atoms/s. The MOT is loaded from an atomic beam decelerated by a Zeeman slower operating with a focused laser beam. The 461-nm laser, used for both cooling and trapping, was generated by sum-frequency mixing in a KTP crystal with diode lasers at 813 nm and a Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm. As much as 115 mW of blue light was obtained.     

Narrow-bandwidth diode-laser-based blue and ultraviolet light source

A compact, tunable and narrow-bandwidth laser source for blue and ultraviolet radiation is presented. A grating-stabilized diode laser at 922 nm is frequency-stabilized to below 100 Hz relative to a reference resonator. Injection of the diode-laser light into a tapered amplifier yields a power of 0.5 W. In a first frequency-doubling stage, more than 200 mW of blue light at 461 nm is generated by use of a periodically poled KTP crystal. Subsequent second-harmonic generation employing a BBO crystal leads to about 1 mW of ultraviolet light at 231 nm. Received: 12 August 2002 / Published online: 15 January 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +49-89/32905-200, E-mail: christian.schwedes@mpq.mpg.de RID="**" ID="**"Present address: PTB, Bundesallee 100, 38116 Braunschweig, Germany     

紫外光诱导原子脱附技术在单腔磁阱装载中的应用

基于光诱导的原子脱附技术，采用脉冲紫外光剥离出玻璃池壁上吸附的铷原子以形成可快速开启和关断的脉冲铷原子源，成功地解决了单真空腔系统中磁阱的原子数和寿命之间的矛盾，突破了激光冷却和囚禁技术向小型化乃至微型化发展过程中的一个瓶颈.脉冲光源由390nm的LED阵列组成.实验结果表明它能够在1s内使真空铷原子气体分压提高近30倍,并且当紫外光关闭后系统的真空恢复到平衡状态的时间非常短，约120ms.测量了不同铷原子分压下磁光阱所俘获的最大原子数和装载时间,并由此得出系统的背景真空和磁光阱所能俘获的极限原子数，进一步得出磁阱的原子数-寿命积与磁光阱保持阶段时间的变化关系，结果显示在约1.25s处出现极大值，与无磁光阱保持阶段而直接进行磁阱装载情况相比提高了约0.3倍. 关键词： 激光冷却 磁光阱 光诱导原子脱附 原子数-寿命积     

Broad-area diode-laser system for a rubidium Bose-Einstein condensation experiment

We report on master-oscillator power amplification using a broad-area laser diode (BAL) emitting at a wavelength of λ =780 nm. The master oscillator is an injection-locked single-mode diode laser delivering a seeding beam of 35 mW, which is amplified in double pass through the BAL up to 410 mW. After beam shaping and spatial filtering by a single-mode fibre we obtain a clean Gaussian beam with a maximum power of 160 mW. There is no detectable contribution of the BAL eigenmodes in the spectrum of the output light. This laser system is employed for operation of a ⁸⁷Rb magneto-optical trap (MOT) and for near-resonant absorption imaging in a Bose-Einstein condensation experiment. Received: 10 April 2000 / Revised version: 13 June 2000 / Published online: 2 August 2000     

Ultra-sensitive mid-infrared cavity leak-out spectroscopy using a cw optical parametric oscillator

We report a portable, all-solid-state, mid-infrared spectrometer for trace-gas analysis. The light source is a continuous-wave optical parametric oscillator based on PPLN and pumped by a Nd:YAG laser at 1064 nm. The generated single-frequency idler output covers the wavelength region between 2.35 and 3.75 μm. With its narrow line width, this light source is suitable for precise trace-gas analysis with very high sensitivity. Using cavity leak-out spectroscopy we achieved a minimum detectable absorption coefficient of 1.2×10^-9 /cm (integration time: 16 s), corresponding, for example, to a detection limit of 300 parts per trillion ethane. This sensitivity and the compact design make this trace-gas analyzer a promising tool for various in situ environmental and medical applications. Received: 19 September 2002 / Published online: 15 November 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +49-228/733-474, E-mail: frank.kuehnemann@iap.uni-bonn.de     

Loss-tolerant, narrow-band reflector in the UV using a grating-waveguide structure

We theoretically demonstrate the feasibility of using a grating-waveguide structure (GWS) as a loss-tolerant, narrow-band reflector in the UV. We simulate device operation using a Green-function technique. Our numerical simulations indicate that a GWS with a 25-nm grating can be used as a 95% reflector for 157-nm light, even in the presence of intensity absorptions of 50 cm^-1. Received: 23 July 2002 / Published online: 22 November 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +49-551/5035-99, E-mail: mbader@llg.gwdg.de     

An atom faucet

We present a simple and efficient source of slow atoms. From a background vapour loaded magneto-optical trap (MOT), a thin laser beam extracts a continuous jet of cold rubidium atoms. The jet that is typical to leaking MOT systems is created without any optical parts placed inside the vacuum chamber. We also present a simple three dimensional numerical simulation of the atomic motion in the presence of these multiple saturating laser fields combined with the inhomogeneous magnetic field of the MOT. At a pressure of P _Rb87 = 10^-8 mbar and with a moderate laser power of 10 mW per beam, we generate a flux Φ = 1.3×10⁸ atoms/s with a mean velocity of 14 m/s and a divergence of 10 mrad. Received 13 January 2001     

Self-starting five optical cycle pulse generation in Cr<Superscript>4+</Superscript>:YAG laser

We report stable self-starting near-transform-limited 26-fs pulses at 250-mW output power from a Kerr-lens mode-locked (KLM) Cr⁴⁺:YAG laser using chirped mirrors in combination with prisms. The highest output power achieved in KLM regime was 600 mW at 55-fs pulse duration. The experimental results agree well with the results of theoretical analysis with respect to KLM self-starting ability and stability against continuous-wave and multi-pulse operation. Parameter ranges for stable transform-limited KLM pulses as well as the shortest achievable pulse durations are established. Using an InGaAs-InP semiconductor saturable absorber mirror we could obtain self-starting 57-fs pulses at the average output power of 200 mW. Two-photon absorption was found to be the main mechanism favoring the multiple-pulse operation. Received: 2 May 2002 / Revised version: 16 July 2002 / Published online: 8 January 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +43-1/58801-38799, E-mail: sorokina@tuwien.ac.at     

Cooling and Trapping 88Sr Atoms with 461nm Laser

We report the experimental realization of a ^88Sr magneto-optical trap （MOT） operating at the wavelength of 461 nm. The MOT is loaded via a 32 cm long spin-flip type Zeeman slower which enhances the MOT population by a factor of 22. The total laser power available in our experiment is about 300mW. We have trapped 1.6 × 10^8 ^88 Sr atoms with a 679nm and 707nm repumping laser. The two repumping lasers enhance the trap population and trap lifetime by factors of 11 and 7, respectively. The ^88 Sr cloud has a temperature of about 2.3 mK, measured by recording the time evolution of the absorption signal.     

Three-dimensional structuring of sapphire by sequential He+ ion-beam implantation and wet chemical etching

We present a method for the selective two- and three-dimensional patterning of sapphire using light ion-beam implantation to generate severe lattice damage to depths exceeding 1 μm and subsequent selective wet chemical etching of the damaged regions by hot H₃PO₄. C-cut sapphire crystals were implanted through contact masks using ion fluences of 1×10¹⁶ to 5×10¹⁷ He⁺/cm² and energies up to 400 keV. The etching process is characterized by a high selectivity and a rate of approximately 19 nm/min. Whereas an implantation that produces a continuously damaged pathway results in complete etching from the surface, sole in-depth implantation using only high-energy ions leads to under-etching of the crystalline surface layer. By a combination of these processes we have fabricated three-dimensional structures such as channels and bridges in sapphire. Received: 14 October 2002 / Accepted: 15 October 2002 / Published online: 26 February 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax +41-21/693-3701, E-mail: aurelian.crunteanustanescu@epfl.ch     

High-peak-power diode-pumped passively Q-switched Nd:YVO<Subscript>4</Subscript> laser

We report on a passively Q-switched diode-pumped Nd:YVO₄ laser polarized along the a axis (corresponding to the smallest value of emission cross section at 1064 nm), generating 157-μJ pulses with 6.0-ns time duration (>20 kW peak power) and 3.6 W of average power at 1064 nm with good beam quality (M²<1.4). The selection of the polarization was performed by a novel technique relying on the birefringence of the laser crystal and on the misalignment sensitivity of the resonator. Received: 30 September 2002 / Revised version: 22 November 2002 / Published online: 19 March 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +39-382/422583, E-mail: agnesi@ele.unipv.it     

Efficient generation of blue light by frequency doubling of a Nd:YAG laser operating on 4 F 3/24 I 9/2 transitions

Efficient room-temperature operation of ⁴ F _3/2⁴ I _9/2 transitions in diode-end-pumped Nd:YAG lasers at 946 nm and 938.5 nm is reported. 7.0-W continuous-wave output power at 946 nm and 3.9 W at 938.5 nm have been obtained. An analytical model has been developed for the quasi-three-level laser including the influence of energy-transfer upconversion. Frequency doubling of these transitions in periodically poled KTP generated blue light at 473 nm and 469 nm. Both single-pass extra-cavity as well as intracavity schemes have been investigated. Received: 31 July 2002 / Published online: 5 February 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +46-8/750-5430, E-mail: stefan.bjurshagen@acreo.se     

Properties of an ultrashort-pumped near-IR high gain dye amplifier

An ultra-short-pumped optical dye amplifier operating in the near-IR (720 nm) has been developed. We present an experimental study of the input–output characteristics of this simple device in a traveling wave collinear configuration. In essence, the combined effects of the ultrafast nature of the anisotropy induced by the exciting laser pulse along with the short transit time across the length of the cell allow for optimal output conditions given the number of molecules in the active volume. Two distinct amplifying regimes have been observed depending on photon density. Typical gain values of 10⁴ of the narrow bandwidth (∼9 nm) subpicosecond output signal were measured. The 8-mm² beam cross section enables this photon amplifier to be utilized in time-gated imaging applications. Received: 12 December 2001 / Revised version: 13 May 2002 / Published online: 25 October 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +1-819/564-5442, E-mail: Daniel.Houde@Usherbrooke.ca     

PbS-doped phosphate glasses saturable absorbers for 1.3-μm neodymium lasers

Passive mode locking and saturable absorber Q-switching of neodymium lasers at 1.3 μm with PbS-doped phosphate glasses are demonstrated. Q-switched pulses of 120 ns (0.1 μJ) in duration (energy) and the average output power of 3 mW from a quasi-cw diode-pumped Nd³⁺:KGW laser and ultrashort pulses of a maximum of 250 μJ in energy and 150 ps in duration from a Nd³⁺:YAP laser were obtained. The bleaching decay rate of the samples was found to increase with the Quantum Dot’s size decreasing due to the enhancement of quantum confinement effects for smaller dots and stronger overlapping of the electron and trap state wave functions. Received: 23 January 2002 / Revised version: 2 April 2002 / Published online: 20 December 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +375-17/232-6286, E-mail: savitski@eudoramail.com     

Cross-section for collisions of ultracold Li with Na

In a magneto-optical trap (MOT) we are able to simultaneously trap and cool ⁷Li and Na. We investigated the loading behavior of the cloud of Li atoms in presence of the overlapped cloud of cold Na atoms, and, by blocking the weak repumping beam for Na, compared it with the loading curve for Li atoms only. Out of these loading curves we calculated the collision cross-section of Na on Li to be 10^-11 cm ³ /s. Received 11 January 2002 / Received in final form 5 April 2002 Published online 24 September 2002     

Diode-pumped cw tunable two-frequency YAG:Nd<Superscript>3+</Superscript> laser with coupled resonators

Using the mode splitting that can be achieved by exploiting the effect of photoelasticity and the mode selection properties of coupled resonators, single- and two-frequency operation of a diode pumped cw YAG:Nd³⁺ laser was observed. In the two-frequency case, a regime with two orthogonal linearly polarized modes was realized. The frequency difference between the adjacent modes could be varied from 50 MHz to 8.4 GHz. A maximum laser output power of 12 mW was achieved at a pump level of 240 mW . Received: 1 November 2002 / Revised version: 14 January 2003 / Published online: 19 March 2003 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +375-17/2840-879, E-mail: ryabtsev@dragon.bas-net.by     

Laser-induced nano-patterning by means of interference subpatterns generated by microspheres

Interference patterns generated by a regular lattice of SiO₂ microspheres on a transparent support are used for the surface patterning of polyimide (PI) foils. Using 248 nm excimer-laser radiation, thousands to millions of holes with a full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 160±40 nm can be generated with a single laser pulse. Received: 1 March 2002 / Accepted: 4 March 2002 / Published online: 10 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*"Corresponding author. Fax: +43-732/2468-9242, E-mail: dieter.baeuerle@jku.at