Quantitative simulation of a magneto-optical trap operating near the photon recoil limit

Hanley, Ryan K.; Huillery, Paul; Keegan, Niamh C.; Bounds, Alistair D.; Faoro, R.; Jones, Matthew P.A.

Abstract

We present a quantitative model for magneto-optical traps operating on narrow transitions, where the transition linewidth and the recoil shift are comparable. We combine a quantum treatment of the light scattering process with a Monte-Carlo simulation of the atomic motion. By comparing our model to an experiment operating on the 5s21S0→5s5p3P15s21S0→5s5p3P1 transition in strontium, we show that it quantitatively reproduces the cloud size, position, temperature and dynamics over a wide range of operating conditions, without any adjustable parameters. We also present an extension of the model that quantitatively reproduces the transfer of atoms into a far off-resonance dipole trap, highlighting its use as a tool for optimizing complex cold atom experiments.

Citation

Hanley, R. K., Huillery, P., Keegan, N. C., Bounds, A. D., Faoro, R., & Jones, M. P. (2018). Quantitative simulation of a magneto-optical trap operating near the photon recoil limit. Journal of Modern Optics, 65(5-6), 667-676. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500340.2017.1401679

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 18, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Nov 22, 2017
• Publication Date: Mar 30, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jun 15, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 23, 2017
• Journal: Journal of Modern Optics
• Print ISSN: 0950-0340
• Electronic ISSN: 1362-3044
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 65
• Issue: 5-6
• Pages: 667-676
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/09500340.2017.1401679
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1357383