Characterizing optical dipole trap via fluorescence of trapped cesium atoms

Optical dipole trap (ODT) is becoming an important tool of manipulating neutral atoms. In this paper ODT is realized with a far-off resonant laser beam strongly focused in the magneto-optical trap (MOT) of cesium atoms. The light shift is measured by simply monitoring the fluorescence of the atoms in the magneto-optical trap and the optical dipole trap simultaneously. The advantages of our experimental scheme are discussed, and the effect of the beam waist and power on the potential of dipole trap as well as heating rate is analyzed.