Heating rates for an atom in a far-detuned optical lattice

Heating rates for an atom in a far-detuned optical lattice

Optical lattice on an atom chip.

Optical dipole traps and atom chips are two very powerful tools for the quantum manipulation of neutral atoms. We demonstrate that both methods can be combined by creating an optical lattice potential on an atom chip. A red-detuned laser beam is retroreflected using the atom chip surface as a high-quality mirror, generating a vertical array of purely optical oblate traps. We transfer thermal at...

Atom trapping in deeply bound states of a far-off-resonance optical lattice

We form a one-dimensional optical lattice for Cs atoms using light tuned a few thousand linewidths below atomic resonance. Atoms are selectively loaded into deeply bound states by adiabatic transfer from a superimposed, near-resonance optical lattice. This yields a mean vibrational excitation n̄'0.3 and localization Dz 'l/20. Light scattering subsequently heats the atoms, but the initial rate is...

Nonlinear coherent dynamics of an atom in an optical lattice

We consider a simple model of lossless interaction between a two-level single atom and a standing-wave single-mode laser field which creates a one-dimensional optical lattice. Internal dynamics of the atom is governed by the laser field which is treated to be classical with a large number of photons. Center-of-mass classical atomic motion is governed by the optical potential and the internal at...

Trapping a single atom in a blue detuned optical bottle beam trap.

We demonstrate trapping a single rubidium atom in a blue detuned optical bottle beam trap. The trap was formed by a strongly focused blue detuned laser beam, which passes through a computer-generated circular pi phase hologram displayed on a spatial light modulator. Single atoms were loaded from a magneto-optical trap and stored in the optical trap for several seconds.