Magneto-optical trapping of Stark-slowed metastable He atoms

We report on the first successful loading of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) with metastable He atoms from a Stark-slower. Thereby, deceleration of the atoms relies on laser-atom interaction in an inhomogeneous electric field. We show that the results obtained are comparable with early results from other groups achieved with a Zeeman slower. The Stark slower, which is able to fully control the final velocity of the atomic He beam, is the first step in achieving complete spin independent kinematic control based solely on electric fields. Received 2 October 2002 / Received in final form 20 January 2003 Published online 29 April 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: eichmann@mbi-berlin.de     

Trapping and cooling cesium atoms in a speckle field

We present the results of two experiments where cold cesium atoms are trapped in a speckle field. In the first experiment, a YAG laser creates the speckle pattern and induces a far-detuned dipole potential which is a nearly-conservative potential. Localization of atoms near the intensity maxima of the speckle field is observed. In a second experiment we use two counterpropagating laser beams tuned close to a resonance line of cesium and in the linlin configuration, one of them being modulated by a holographic diffuser that creates the speckle field. Three-dimensional cooling is observed. Variations of the temperature and of the spatial diffusion coefficient with the size of a speckle grain are presented. Received 16 December 1998 and Received in final form 16 April 1999     

Penning collisions of laser-cooled metastable helium atoms

We present experimental results on the two-body loss rates in a magneto-optical trap of metastable helium atoms. Absolute rates are measured in a systematic way for several laser detunings ranging from -5 to -30 MHz and at different intensities, by monitoring the decay of the trap fluorescence. The dependence of the two-body loss rate coefficient β on the excited state ( 2³ P ₂) and metastable state ( 2³ S ₁) populations is also investigated. From these results we infer a rather uniform rate constant K _sp = (1±0.4)×10^-7 cm³/s. Received 8 September 2000 and Received in final form 19 December 2000     

Photoionization cross-sections of the first excited states of sodium and lithium in a magneto-optical trap

A two element magneto-optical trap (MOT) for Na and ⁷Li or ⁶Li is used to cool and trap each of them separately. A fraction of the cold atoms is maintained in the first ²P_3/2 excited state by the cooling laser. These excited state atoms are ionized by laser light in the near-UV region, giving rise to a smaller number of trapped atoms and to different loading parameters. Photoionization cross-sections were derived out of these data. They are in reasonable agreement with data previously obtained using thermal samples and with theoretical predictions. Received 21 March 2001 and Received in final form 3 August 2001     

Comparative investigation of <Emphasis Type="Bold">39</Emphasis>K and <Emphasis Type="Bold">40</Emphasis>K trap loss rates: alternative loss channel at low light intensities

We report a comparative investigation of trap loss rates in a magneto-optical trap for two potassium isotopes, ³⁹K and ⁴⁰K, as a function of trap light intensity. The isotopes present a quite similar behavior for the loss rates at high intensities, and a sudden increase of the loss rates at low intensities is present in both cases. While for ³⁹K such increase can be explained assuming that the major contribution to the losses comes from hyperfine changing collisions, a different loss mechanism must be considered for ⁴⁰K, which has an inverted ground state hyperfine structure. The experimental results of both isotopes are well reproduced by an alternative model based on radiative escape as the dominant loss mechanism. Received 1st May 2002 / Received in final form 19 October 2002 Published online 4 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a"Alternative address: Dipartimento di Fisica, Universitá di Trento, 38050 Povo (Tn), Italy. RID="b" ID="b"e-mail: marcassa@if.sc.usp.br     

Blue-Sisyphus cooling in cesium gray molasses and antidot lattices

We present an experimental study of the kinetic temperature of cesium atoms interacting with laser beams tuned on the blue side of the transition. In the case of a three-dimensional four-beam molasses, temperatures as low as 800 nK were found. These low temperatures are compatible with a good capture efficiency. The influence of other hyperfine transitions on the temperature is significant. In the presence of a static magnetic field (antidot lattices), the temperatures are slightly higher but show a much weaker dependence on the other hyperfine transitions. Received: 14 May 1998 / Received in final form: 16 October 1998 / Accepted: 2 November 1998     

Anisotropic velocity distributions in 3D dissipative optical lattices

We present a direct measurement of velocity distributions in two dimensions by using an absorption imaging technique in a 3D near resonant optical lattice. The results show a clear difference in the velocity distributions for the different directions. The experimental results are compared with a numerical 3D semi-classical Monte-Carlo simulation. The numerical simulations are in good qualitative agreement with the experimental results. Received 3 September 2002 / Received in final form 25 October 2002 Published online 11 February 2003     

Semi-classical theory of laser cooling in two dimensions

We present a semi-classical theory of the light pressure force for atoms interacting with a two-dimensional laser field. Unlike previous 2D theory, ours is valid for general atomic level and laser field configurations. We show that striking new features appear in the velocity-dependent force arising from the multi-dimensionality. Finally, we describe in detail the novel numerical technique used in the calculation. Received 4 December 1998 and Received in final form 13 February 1999     

Inversion analysis of K 2 coupled electronic states with the Fourier grid method

We present a new determination of the potential curves and interactions of the coupled electronic states A ¹ Σ ⁺ _u and b ³ Π _u of the potassium dimer, based on new laser spectroscopy measurements within a molecular beam, combined with data available in the literature. We used a new global deperturbation approach, involving the Fourier Grid Hamiltonian method for energy level calculation. A standard deviation of 1.2 is obtained corresponding to a variance of 7.5×10 ^-3 cm^-1, representing a significant improvement compared to the standard deviation of 4 yielded by the traditional local deperturbation approach. Received 12 June 2001 and Received in final form 3 September 2001     

Characterization of a miniature Paul-Straubel trap

Frequency standard applications and ultra-high resolution spectroscopy of a confined single ion require traps of drastically reduced dimensions (about or below 1 mm). These small dimensions increase the sensitivity of the trapping behavior to imperfections in the trap geometry and to patch potentials. For the aim of the metrological laser interrogation of a single Ca⁺ ion, a miniature cylindrical ring trap was built. In order to optimize the laser cooling process and to reach strong binding conditions, the boundaries of the stability diagram and the zones of low confinement as well as the ion motion properties were characterized. Received 14 November 2000 and Received in final form 1st February 2001     

Microfabricated magnetic waveguides for neutral atoms

We describe how tightly confining magnetic waveguides for atoms can be created with microfabricated or nanofabricated wires. Rubidium atoms guided in the devices we have fabricated would have a transverse mode energy spacing of K. We discuss the creation of a single-mode waveguide for atom interferometry whose depth is comparable to magneto-optical trap (MOT) temperatures. We also discuss the application of microfabricated waveguides to low-dimensional systems of quantum degenerate gases, and show that confinement can be strong enough to observe fermionization in a strongly interacting bosonic ensemble. Received 1st December 1998 and Received in final form 23 February 1999     

Instanton approach to Josephson tunneling between trapped condensates

An instanton method is proposed to investigate the quantum tunneling between two weakly-linked Bose-Einstein condensates confined in double-well potential traps. We point out some intrinsic pathologies in the earlier treatments of other authors and make an effort to go beyond these very simple zero order models. The tunneling amplitude may be calculated in the Thomas-Fermi approximation and beyond it; we find it depends on the number of the trapped atoms, through the chemical potential. Some suggestions are given for the observation of the Josephson oscillation and the MQST. Received 29 June 2001 and Received in final form 17 September 2001     

Formation of ultracold molecules via photoassociation with blue detuned laser light

We propose a new possibility to form ultracold molecules, via photoassociation of a pair of cold atoms into vibrational levels of the external well of an excited electronic state located at intermediate interatomic distance ( ≈ 20 Bohr radii), and embedded in the dissociation continuum above its dissociation limit. The existence of such a well is demonstrated by conventional free-free absorption spectroscopy at thermal energies. Estimation for cold atom photoassociation and cold molecule formation rates are obtained within a perturbative approach [Drag et al., IEEE J. Quant. Electr. 36, 1378 (2000)], and are found observable for usual conditions of photoassociation experiments. Received 1st March 2001     

Single-beam optical bottle for cold atoms using a conical lens

We report a new method to generate an optical dipole potential with a null intensity region surrounded in all directions by light walls. This is achieved with a simple scheme based on a conical lens. Applications to optical trapping of neutral atoms are discussed. Received 4 September 2000 and Received in final form 21 January 2001     

Electrodynamic trap for neutral atoms

An electrodynamic trap is proposed that stores cold neutral atoms or nonpolar molecules in their ground state as well as in excited states by means of the quadratic Stark effect. The trap uses an oscillating hexapole field and a superposed static homogeneous field. The dynamics of an atom in this trap can be described as a harmonic oscillation in a static pseudopotential. Stability criteria and sample parameters for a number of atomic species are given. Received: 7 August 1998 / Received in final form: 7 January 1999     

Mean field loops versus quantum anti-crossing nets in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates

We study a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in an asymmetric double well potential. Solutions of the time-independent Gross-Pitaevskii equation reveal intrinsic loops in the energy (or chemical potential) level behavior when the shape of the potential is varied. We investigate the corresponding behavior of the quantum (many-body) energy levels. Applying the two-mode approximation to the bosonic field operators, we show that the quantum energy levels create an anti-crossing net inside the region bounded by the loop of the mean field solution. Received 6 March 2002 / Received in final form 19 September 2002 Published online 15 November 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: smerzi@cnls.lanl.gov     

Cold rubidium molecule formation through photoassociation: A spectroscopic study of the 0 g - long-range state of 87 Rb 2

We report the detailed analysis of translationally cold rubidium molecule formation through photoassociation. Cold molecules are formed after spontaneous decay of photoexcited molecules from a laser cooled atomic sample, and are detected by selective mass spectroscopy after two-photon ionization into Rb ₂ ⁺ ions. A spectroscopic study of the 0 _g ^- (5 S + 5 P _3/2 ) pure long-range state of ⁸⁷Rb₂ is performed by detecting the ion yield as a function of the photoassociation laser frequency; the spectral data are theoretically analyzed within the semiclassical RKR approach. Molecular ionization is resonantly enhanced through either the 2 ³ Π _g or the 2 ³ Σ ⁺ _g intermediate molecular states. Some vibrational levels of the latter electronic state are observed and assigned here for the first time. Finally, cold molecules formation rates are calculated and compared to the experimentally measured ones, and the vibrational distribution of the formed molecules in the a ³ Σ ⁺ _u ground triplet state is discussed. Received 18 January 2001 and Received in final form 10 April 2001     

Temperatures in 3D optical lattices influenced by neighbouring transitions

A detailed experimental study of the steady-state temperature in a 3D optical lattice for cesium has been performed for a wide range of detunings. Specifically, we have investigated the situation with the cooling and trapping light detuned far red of a ( J _g↦J _e = J _g + 1)-transition, where the blue detuned interaction with a ( J _g↦J _e = J _g)-transition can not be neglected. We find that the temperature scales with the optical potential due to the interaction with just the ( J _g↦J _e = J _g + 1)-transition. This indicates that blue Sisyphus cooling has essentially no effect on the dynamics of the system, when there exists a neighbouring red detuned transition. Received 6 June 2000 and Received in final form 26 September 2000