Precise shaping of laser light by an acousto-optic deflector

Abstract

We present a laser beam shaping method using acousto-optic deflection of light and discuss its application to dipole trapping of ultracold atoms. By driving the acousto-optic deflector with multiple frequencies, we generate an array of overlapping diffraction-limited beams that combine to form an arbitrary-shaped smooth and continuous trapping potential. Confinement of atoms in a flat-bottomed potential formed by a laser beam with uniform intensity over its central region confers numerous advantages over the harmonic confinement intrinsic to Gaussian beam dipole traps and many other trapping schemes.We demonstrate the versatility of this beam shaping method by generating potentials with large flat-topped regions as well as intensity patterns compensating for residual external potentials to create a uniform background to which the trapping potential of experimental interest can be added.

10 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (12)

• Quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator in a gas of ultracold atoms
• Ultracold atomic gases in optical lattices: mimicking condensed matter physics and beyond
• Direct observation of Anderson localization of matter-waves in a controlled disorder
• Experimental demonstration of painting arbitrary and dynamic potentials for Bose-Einstein condensates
• Optical ferris wheel for ultracold atoms
• A high-accuracy algorithm for designing arbitrary holographic atom traps
• Dynamic optical lattices: two-dimensional rotating and accordion lattices for ultracold atoms
• Tunneling decay of two interacting bosons in an asymmetric double-well potential: A spectral approach
• Ultracold atoms in an optical lattice with dynamically variable periodicity
• Smooth, holographically generated ring trap for the investigation of superfluidity in ultracold atoms
• Dark dynamic acousto-optic ring lattices for ultracold atoms
• Quantitative determination of the Hubbard model phase diagram from optical lattice experiments by two-parameter scaling

Cited by in corpus (15)

• The Bose-Einstein Condensate and Cold Atom Laboratory
• A conjugate gradient minimisation approach to generating holographic traps for ultracold atoms
• Steerable optical tweezers for ultracold atom studies
• Feedback-enhanced algorithm for aberration correction of holographic atom traps
• Dynamic high-resolution optical trapping of ultracold atoms
• A three-dimensional steerable optical tweezer system for ultracold atoms
• Phase and micromotion of Bose-Einstein condensates in a time-averaged ring trap
• Tunneling Gravimetry
• Preparation of ultra-cold atomic-ensemble arrays using time-multiplexed optical tweezers
• Comparative simulations of Fresnel holography methods for atomic waveguides
• Efficient and fast algorithms to generate holograms for optical tweezers
• High speed, high power 2D beam steering for mitigation of optomechanical parametric instability in gravitational wave detectors
• Model-Based Real-Time Synthesis of Acousto-Optically Generated Laser-Beam Patterns and Tweezer Arrays
• Dynamic multi-focus laser writing with acousto-optofluidics
• Astigmatism-free 3D Optical Tweezer Control for Rapid Atom Rearrangement