Dependence of loading time on control parameters in a standard vapour-loaded magneto-optical trap

Loading time is one of the most important dynamic characteristics of a magneto-optical trap. In this paper, we primarily report on a detailed experimental study of the effects of some magneto-optical trap control parameters on loading time, including the background vacuum pressure, the magnetic field gradient, and the intensities of trapping and repumping lasers. We compare the results with previous theoretical and experimental results, and give qualitative analysis. These experimental investigations offer some useful guidelines to control the loading time of magneto-optical traps. The controllable loading time achieved is helpful to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of photoassociation spectroscopy, which is remarkably improved from 7 to 28.6.     

Superfluid to Mott-insulator transition in a one-dimensional optical lattice

Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) of sodium atoms are transferred into one-dimensional (1D) optical lattice potentials, formed by two laser beams with a wavelength of 1064 nm, in a shallow optical trap. The phase coherence of the condensate in the lattice potential is studied by changing the lattice depth. A qualitative change in behavior of the BEC is observed at a lattice depth of ～ 13.7 E_r, where the quantum gas undergoes a transition from a superfluid state to a state that lacks well-to-well phase coherence.