Single-laser, one beam, tetrahedral magneto-optical trap

Abstract

We have realised a 4-beam pyramidal magneto-optical trap ideally suited for future microfabrication. Three mirrors split and steer a single incoming beam into a tripod of reflected beams, allowing trapping in the four-beam overlap volume. We discuss the influence of mirror angle on cooling and trapping, finding optimum efficiency in a tetrahedral configuration. We demonstrate the technique using an ex-vacuo mirror system to illustrate the previously inaccessible supra-plane pyramid MOT configuration. Unlike standard pyramidal MOTs both the pyramid apex and its mirror angle are non-critical and our MOT offers improved molasses free from atomic shadows in the laser beams. The MOT scheme naturally extends to a 2-beam refractive version with high optical access. For quantum gas experiments, the mirror system could also be used for a stable 3D tetrahedral optical lattice.

8 pages, 6 figures, 2 movies

References in corpus (5)

• Quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator in a gas of ultracold atoms
• Bose-Einstein condensate coupled to a nanomechanical resonator on an atom chip
• A quantum sensor for atom-surface interactions below 10 $\mu$m
• Integrating cavity quantum electrodynamics and ultracold-atom chips with on-chip dielectric mirrors and temperature stabilization
• Experimental single-impulse magnetic focusing of launched cold atoms

Cited by in corpus (33)

• A surface-patterned chip as a strong source of ultra-cold atoms for quantum technologies
• A cold atom pyramidal gravimeter with a single laser beam
• Multiaxis atom interferometry with a single diode laser and a pyramidal magneto-optical trap
• The Feasibility of a Fully Miniaturized Magneto-Optical Trap for Portable Ultracold Quantum Technology
• Grating chips for quantum technologies
• Laser cooling with a single laser beam and a planar diffractor
• Bright focused ion beam sources based on laser-cooled atoms
• Laser cooling in a chip-scale platform
• Sub-Doppler Cooling of Neutral Atoms in a Grating Magneto-Optical Trap
• Single-beam Zeeman slower and magneto-optical trap using a nanofabricated grating
• Invited Review: Micro-fabricated components for cold atom sensors
• Phase-space properties of magneto-optical traps utilising micro-fabricated gratings
• Challenges to miniaturizing cold atom technology for deployable vacuum metrology
• Diffraction grating characterisation for cold-atom experiments
• Characteristics of integrated magneto-optical traps for atom chips
• Cold-atom clock based on a diffractive optic
• Design and fabrication of diffractive atom chips for laser cooling and trapping
• Stand-alone vacuum cell for compact ultracold quantum technologies
• Confinement of an alkaline-earth element in a grating magneto-optical trap
• A high-flux, adjustable, compact cold-atom source
• Grating magneto-optical traps with complicated level structures
• An Adaptable Dual Species Effusive Source and Zeeman Slower Design Demonstrated with Rb and Li
• A grating-chip atomic fountain
• Optimal binary gratings for multi-wavelength magneto-optical traps
• A magneto-optical trap with millimeter ball lenses
• Single-beam grating-chip 3D and 1D optical lattices
• A high-flux cold-atom source utilising a grating atom chip
• A dynamic magneto-optical trap for atom chips
• A single-laser alternating-frequency magneto-optical trap
• Single-Beam Magneto-Optical Trap in Back-to-Back Pyramidal and Conical Mirrors
• Polarization Decoupling Multi-Port Beam-Splitting Metasurface for Miniaturized Magneto-Optical Trap
• Grating magneto-optical trap of cesium atoms with an additional retroreflected laser beam
• Probing atoms and molecules close to macroscopic bodies