No Arabic abstract
We report three-dimensional trapping of an oxide molecule (YO), using a radio-frequency magneto-optical trap (MOT). The total number of molecules loaded is $sim$1.5$times10^4$ , with a temperature of 7(1)~mK. This diversifies the frontier of molecules that are laser coolable and paves the way for the second-stage narrow-line cooling in this molecule to the microkelvin regime. Futhermore, the new challenges of creating a 3-D MOT of YO resolved here indicate that MOTs of more complex non-linear molecules should be feasible as well.
We realize an experimental facility for cooling and trapping strontium (Sr) atoms and measure the Lande g factor of $^{3}$D$_{1}$ of $^{88}$Sr. Thanks to a novel repumping scheme with the $^{3}$P$_{2}$$rightarrow$$^{3}$S$_{1}$ and $^{3}$P$_{0}$$rightarrow$$^{3}$D$_{1}$ combination and the permanent magnets based self-assembled Zeeman slower, the peak atom number in the continuously repumped blue MOT is enhanced by a factor of 15 with respect to the non-repumping case, and reaches $sim$1 billion. Furthermore, using the resolved-sideband Zeeman spectroscopy, the Lande g factor of $^{3}$D$_{1}$ is measured to be 0.4995(88) showing a good agreement with the theoretical value of 0.4988. The results will have an impact on various applications including atom laser, dipolar interactions, quantum information and precision measurements.
We present the properties and advantages of a new magneto-optical trap (MOT) where blue-detuned light drives `type-II transitions that have dark ground states. Using $^{87}$Rb, we reach a radiation-pressure-limited density exceeding $10^{11}$cm$^{-3}$ and a temperature below 30$mu$K. The phase-space density is higher than in normal atomic MOTs, and a million times higher than comparable red-detuned type-II MOTs, making it particularly attractive for molecular MOTs which rely on type-II transitions. The loss of atoms from the trap is dominated by ultracold collisions between Rb atoms. For typical trapping conditions, we measure a loss rate of $1.8(4)times10^{-10}$cm$^{3}$s$^{-1}$.
Abstract The magneto-optical trap (MOT) is an essential tool for collecting and preparing cold atoms with a wide range of applications. We demonstrate a planar-integrated MOT by combining an optical grating chip with a magnetic coil chip. The flat grating chip simplifies the conventional six-beam configuration down to a single laser beam; the flat coil chip replaces the conventional anti-Helmholtz coils of a cylindrical geometry. We trap 10^{4} cold ^{87}text{Rb} atoms in the planar-integrated MOT, at a point 3-9 mm above the chip surface. This novel configuration effectively reduces the volume, weight, and complexity of the MOT, bringing benefits to applications including gravimeter, clock and quantum memory devices.
We demonstrate a Magneto-Optical Trap (MOT) configuration which employs optical forces due to light scattering between electronically excited states of the atom. With the standard MOT laser beams propagating along the {it x}- and {it y}- directions, the laser beams along the {it z}-direction are at a different wavelength that couples two sets of {it excited} states. We demonstrate efficient cooling and trapping of cesium atoms in a vapor cell and sub-Doppler cooling on both the red and blue sides of the two-photon resonance. The technique demonstrated in this work may have applications in background-free detection of trapped atoms, and in assisting laser-cooling and trapping of certain atomic species that require cooling lasers at inconvenient wavelengths.
We propose and demonstrate the laser cooling and trapping of Rydberg-dressed Sr atoms. By off-resonantly coupling the excited state of a narrow (7 kHz) cooling transition to a high-lying Rydberg state, we transfer Rydberg properties such as enhanced electric polarizability to a stable magneto-optical trap operating at $< 1 mu K$. By increasing the density to $1 times 10^{12} rm{cm^{-3}}$, we show that it is possible to reach a regime where the long-range interaction between Rydberg-dressed atoms becomes comparable to the kinetic energy, opening a route to combining laser cooling with tunable long-range interactions.