Transport of launched cold atoms with a laser guide and pulsed magnetic fields

Pritchard, Matthew J.; Arnold, Aidan S.; Cornish, Simon L.; Hallwood, David W.; Pleasant, Chris V.S.; Hughes, Ifan G.

Abstract

We propose the novel combination of a laser guide and magnetic lens to transport a cold atomic cloud. We have modelled the loading and guiding of a launched cloud of cold atoms with the optical dipole force. We discuss the optimum strategy for loading typically 30% of the atoms from a magneto-optical trap (MOT) and guiding them vertically through 22 cm. However, although the atoms are tightly confined transversely, thermal expansion in the propagation direction still results in a density loss of two orders of magnitude. By combining the laser guide with a single impulse from a magnetic lens we show one can actually increase the density of the guided atoms by a factor of 10.

Citation

Pritchard, M. J., Arnold, A. S., Cornish, S. L., Hallwood, D. W., Pleasant, C. V., & Hughes, I. G. (2006). Transport of launched cold atoms with a laser guide and pulsed magnetic fields. New Journal of Physics, 8, Article 309. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/8/12/309

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Dec 7, 2006
• Publication Date: Dec 7, 2006
• Deposit Date: Jan 23, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: May 18, 2017
• Journal: New Journal of Physics
• Electronic ISSN: 1367-2630
• Publisher: IOP Publishing
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Article Number: 309
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/8/12/309
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1498546