内腔多原子直接俘获的强耦合腔量子力学系统的构建

腔内中性原子的长时间控制与俘获一直是腔量子电动力学(QED)中的一个难题,极大地制约了人们相干操控单原子及其与光相互作用的研究.基于传统Fabry-Perot光学腔,设计了一套易于内腔原子操控的强耦合腔QED系统,其典型参数为:腔长3.5 mm精细度约为57000,(g0,κ,γ)=2π×(1.48,0.375,2.61)MHz,临界光子数和原子数分别为1.54和0.89.该系统的特点是:能够在腔内直接实现冷原子磁光阱,并建立腔内光学晶格,实现腔内可控数目的中性原子的长时间俘获.通过合理选择构建光学偶极阱和原子成像系统,可实现对腔内单个原子或原子阵列的操控、探测、成像等.该系统可以克服传统腔QED系统中转移原子的困难,大幅增加腔内原子的寿命,为构建以腔QED系统为基础的量子信息演示平台提供了一种可能.     

Possibilities for francium spectroscopy in a light trap

An experimental program is under way to capture neutral francium atoms in a magneto-optic trap. Production and transport of the radioactive Fr atoms near to the trapping region have been tested, with a steady state of 10⁷ atoms. If one hundred atoms are captured from the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution into a magneto-optic trap, this will be a sufficient number for spectroscopy of the unknown excited states. These measurements would then open the path to investigations of parity-violating transitions in francium.     

Trapping of Rb atoms by ac electric fields

We demonstrate trapping of an ultracold gas of neutral atoms in a macroscopic ac electric trap. Three-dimensional confinement is obtained by switching between two saddle-point configurations of the electric field. Stable trapping is observed in a narrow range of switching frequencies around 60 Hz. The dynamic confinement of the atoms is directly visualized at different phases of the ac switching cycle. We observe about 10(5) Rb atoms in the 1 mm3 large and several microkelvins deep trap with a lifetime of approximately 5 s.     

Trapping of antiprotons — A first step on the way to antihydrogen

A first step towards producing and effectively utilizing antihydrogen atoms consists of trapping antiprotons. The immediate next step must then be to control, i.e. trap, the produced antihydrogen. The current state of the art in trapping antiprotons and positrons is reviewed, and the challenges in trapping the resulting neutral particles are discussed.     

Antimatter plasmas in a multipole trap for antihydrogen

We have demonstrated storage of plasmas of the charged constituents of the antihydrogen atom, antiprotons and positrons, in a Penning trap surrounded by a minimum-B magnetic trap designed for holding neutral antiatoms. The neutral trap comprises a superconducting octupole and two superconducting, solenoidal mirror coils. We have measured the storage lifetimes of antiproton and positron plasmas in the combined Penning-neutral trap, and compared these to lifetimes without the neutral trap fields. The magnetic well depth was 0.6 T, deep enough to trap ground state antihydrogen atoms of up to about 0.4 K in temperature. We have demonstrated that both particle species can be stored for times long enough to permit antihydrogen production and trapping studies.     

Submicrometer position control of single trapped neutral atoms

We optically detect the positions of single neutral cesium atoms stored in a standing wave dipole trap with a subwavelength resolution of 143 nm rms. The distance between two simultaneously trapped atoms is measured with an even higher precision of 36 nm rms. We resolve the discreteness of the interatomic distances due to the 532 nm spatial period of the standing wave potential and infer the exact number of trapping potential wells separating the atoms. Finally, combining an initial position detection with a controlled transport, we place single atoms at a predetermined position along the trap axis to within 300 nm rms.     

蒙特卡罗模拟四极阱中原子的参变激发

在中性原子的磁囚禁实验中,磁阱线圈的电流噪声会激发磁阱中的原子运动,势必对原子团的温度和寿命产生不可忽视的影响。对于非简谐阱,这种激发具有能量选择特性,它又取决于电流噪声的频谱分布。选择了实验中常用的四极阱为研究对象,用直接模拟蒙特卡罗方法来模拟四极阱中原子运动的参变激发现象,得到了原子温度与原子数损失随激发频率的变化关系,并进一步计算了两个共振峰处原子温度随调制时间和调制深度的变化曲线。此外,还研究了弹性碰撞速率对参变激发过程中原子温度上升的影响。这些结果对四极阱参变激发的实验有较好的参考价值。     

Magnetic trapping of long-lived cold Rydberg atoms

We report on the trapping of long-lived strongly magnetized Rydberg atoms. 85Rb atoms are laser cooled and collected in a superconducting magnetic trap with a strong bias field (2.9 T) and laser excited to Rydberg states. Collisions scatter a small fraction of the Rydberg atoms into long-lived high-angular momentum "guiding-center" Rydberg states, which are magnetically trapped. The Rydberg atomic cloud is examined using a time-delayed, position-sensitive probe. We observe magnetic trapping of these Rydberg atoms for times up to 200 ms. Oscillations of the Rydberg-atom cloud in the trap reveal an average magnetic moment of the trapped Rydberg atoms of approximately -8microB. These results provide guidance for other Rydberg-atom trapping schemes and illuminate a possible route for trapping antihydrogen.     

Electrodynamic trapping of spinless neutral atoms with an atom chip

Three-dimensional electrodynamic trapping of neutral atoms has been demonstrated. By applying time-varying inhomogeneous electric fields with micron-sized electrodes, nearly 10(2) strontium atoms in the 1S0 state have been trapped with a lifetime of 80 ms. In order to design the electrodes, we numerically analyzed the electric field and simulated atomic trajectories in the trap, which showed reasonable agreement with the experiment.     

Miniaturized magnetic guide for neutral atoms

We describe the principle and realization of a miniaturized magnetic guide for neutral atoms. The magnetic guide in our experiment is formed by a micrometer-sized current-carrying wire which is attached to a second, thick wire. The conductors are electrically insulated from each other. The combined magnetic field of both conductors provides an approximately linear trapping potential which establishes a magnetic guide along the surface of the thin wire. The miniaturized waveguide is filled with rubidium atoms from a magneto-optical trap (MOT) by first loading the atoms into a spherical magnetic quadrupole trap which is subsequently transformed into the linear potential of the waveguide. As thermal source for Rb atoms we use an alkali metal dispenser which is located close to the center of the MOT. This novel method is compatible with ultrahigh vacuum conditions and we achieved lifetimes of the magnetically trapped atoms up to 100 s. Received: 18 October 1999 / Published online: 24 March 2000     

ac electric trap for ground-state molecules

We here report on the realization of an electrodynamic trap, capable of trapping neutral atoms and molecules in both low-field and high-field seeking states. Confinement in three dimensions is achieved by switching between two electric field configurations that have a saddle point at the center of the trap, i.e., by alternating a focusing and a defocusing force in each direction. The ac trapping of 15ND(3) molecules is experimentally demonstrated, and the stability of the trap is studied as a function of the switching frequency. A 1 mK sample of 15ND(3) molecules in the high-field seeking component of the |J,K=|1,1 level, the ground state of para-ammonia, is trapped in a volume of about 1 mm(3).     

可操控二种冷原子或冷分子样品的光学双阱新方案及其实验研究

提出了一种构建可囚禁与操控二种冷原子或冷分子样品的光学双阱的新方案,该方案采用常用的液晶空间光调制器作为分光器件,分光调制函数类似二元相位光栅;对提出的方案进行了模拟实验研究,并研究了从光学双阱到单阱的双向演化过程,该光学双阱的模拟实验结果表明与理论方案相符,双阱的操控性好,有利于二种不同的冷原子或冷分子样品的装载与操控等相关实验研究. 关键词： 原子光学 原子分子囚禁 液晶空间光相位调制器 光学双阱     

A cold 87Rb atomic beam

We demonstrate an experimental setup for the production of a beam source of cold ⁸⁷Rb atoms. The atoms are extracted from a trapped cold atomic cloud in an unbalanced three-dimensional magneto-optical trap. Via a radiation pressure difference generated by a specially designed leak tunnel along one trapping laser beam, the atoms are pushed out continuously with low velocities and a high flux. The most-probable velocity in the beam is varied from 9 m/s to 19 m/s by varying the detuning of the trapping laser beams in the magneto-optical trap and the flux can be tuned up to 4×10⁹ s^-1 by increasing the intensity of the trapping beams. We also present a simple model for describing the dependence of the beam performance on the magneto-optical trap trapping laser intensity and the detuning.     

Crossed vortex bottle beam trap for single-atom qubits

We demonstrate trapping and quantum state control of single cesium atoms in a 532 nm wavelength bottle beam trap. The three-dimensional trap is formed by crossing two unit charge vortex beams. Single atoms are loaded with 50% probability directly from a magneto-optical trap. We achieve a trapping lifetime of up to 6 s and demonstrate fast Rabi oscillations with a coherence time of T(2)~43±9 ms.     

一种新颖的实现冷原子或冷分子囚禁的可控制光学四阱及其二维光学晶格

原子光学晶格为精确操控中性原子和研究某些基本物理问题提供了一种方法。提出了一种利用单光束照明余弦型振幅光栅与透镜组合系统实现冷原子或冷分子囚禁的可控制光学四阱新方案,计算了四阱的光强分布,讨论了从光学四阱到双阱或单阱的演化过程,并导出了光学四阱的几何参量、光强分布、强度梯度及其曲率与光学透镜系统参量间的解析关系,获得了四阱间距与光栅空间频率的关系。研究表明通过改变余弦光栅的空间频率即可实现从光学四阱到双阱或单阱的连续双向演化。     

基于磁悬浮大体积交叉光学偶极阱的Dimple光阱装载研究

三维拉曼边带冷却后的铯原子样品装载于一个磁悬浮的大体积交叉光学偶极阱中, 继续加载一个小体积的光学偶极阱后, 实现了Dimple光学偶极阱对铯原子的高效装载. 对不同磁场下磁悬浮大体积光阱的有效装载势能进行理论分析与实验测量, 得出最优化的梯度磁场和均匀偏置磁场, 获得了基于磁悬浮大体积光阱的Dimple光学偶极阱的装载势能曲线, 实现了Dimple光学偶极阱对经拉曼边带冷却后俘获在磁悬浮的大体积光阱中的铯原子样品的有效装载. 比较了Dimple光学偶极阱分别从拉曼边带冷却、大体积的交叉光阱和消除反俘获势后的磁悬浮大体积光阱装载的结果, 将俘获在磁悬浮大体积光阱中的铯原子样品装载到Dimple光学偶极阱, 铯原子样品的密度提高了约15倍.     

Laser trapping of 225Ra and 226Ra with repumping by room-temperature blackbody radiation

We have demonstrated Zeeman slowing and capture of neutral 225Ra and 226Ra atoms in a magneto-optical trap. The intercombination transition 1S0-->3P1 is the only quasicycling transition in radium and was used for laser-cooling and trapping. Repumping along the 3D1-->1P1 transition extended the lifetime of the trap from milliseconds to seconds. Room-temperature blackbody radiation was demonstrated to provide repumping from the metastable 3P0 level. We measured the isotope shift and hyperfine splittings on the 3D1-->1P1 transition with the laser-cooled atoms, and set a limit on the lifetime of the 3D1 level based on the measured blackbody repumping rate. Laser-cooled and trapped radium is an attractive system for studying fundamental symmetries.     

Antihydrogen production and precision experiments. The ATHENA collaboration

The study of CPT invariance with the highest achievable precision in all particle sectors is of fundamental importance for physics. Equally important is the question of the gravitational acceleration of antimatter. In recent years, impressive progress has been achieved at the Low Energy Antiproton Ring (LEAR) at CERN in capturing antiprotons in specially designed Penning traps, in cooling them to energies of a few milli-electron volts, and in storing them for hours in a small volume of space. Positrons have been accumulated in large numbers in similar traps, and low energy positron or positronium beams have been generated. Finally, steady progress has been made in trapping and cooling neutral atoms. Thus the ingredients to form antihydrogen at rest are at hand. We propose to investigate the different methods to form antihydrogen at low energy, and to utilize the best of these methods to capture a number of antihydrogen atoms sufficient for spectroscopic studies in a magnetostatic trap. Once antihydrogen atoms have been captured at low energy, spectroscopic methods can be applied to interrogate their atomic structure with extremely high precision and compare it to its normal matter counterpart, the hydrogen atom. Especially the 1S-2S transition, with a lifetime of the excited state of 122 ms and thereby a natural linewidth of 5 parts in 10¹⁶, offers in principle the possibility to directly compare matter and antimatter properties at a level of 1 part in 10¹⁸. Additionally, comparison of the gravitational masses of hydrogen and antihydrogen, using either ballistic or spectroscopic methods, can provide direct experimental tests of the Weak Equivalence Principle for antimatter at a high precision. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A wire trap for neutral atoms

We present new ways of trapping a neutral atom with static electric and magnetic fields. We discuss the interaction of a neutral atom with the magnetic field of a current carrying wire and the electric field of a charged wire. Atoms can be trapped by the 1/r magnetic field of a current-carrying wire in a two-dimensional trap. The atoms move in Kepler-like orbits around the wire and angular momentum prevents them from being absorbed at the wire. Trapping was demonstrated in an experiment by guiding atoms along a 1 m long current-carrying wire. Stable traps using the interaction of a polarizable atom with the electric field of a charged wire alone are not possible because of the 1/r ² form of the interaction potential. Nevertheless, we show that one can build a microscopic trap with a combination of a magnetic field generated by a current in a straight wire and the static electric field generated by a concentric charged ring which provides the longitudinal confinement. In all of these traps, the neutral atoms are trapped in a region of maximal field, in theirhigh-field seeking state.Dedicated to H. Walther on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

磁光阱中超冷钠-铯原子碰撞的实验研究

研究了磁光阱中异核超冷钠铯原子的碰撞机理, 测量了超冷钠原子的碰撞损失率, 得到了钠-铯原子的碰撞损失系数β_Na-Cs与钠原子俘获光强度之间的关系. 利用多普勒模型计算了不同俘获光强度下的钠原子磁光阱的阱深, 得到了临界光强的理论值, 与实验结果符合得较好.