Continuous loading of cold atoms into a Ioffe-Pritchard magnetic trap

verfasst von

Piet Oliver Schmidt, Sven Hensler, Jörg Werner, Thomas Binhammer, Axel Görlitz, Tilman Pfau

Abstract

We present a robust continuous optical loading scheme for a Ioffe-Pritchard (IP) type magnetic trap (MT). Chromium atoms are cooled and trapped in a modified magneto-optical trap (MOT) consisting of a conventional 2D-MOT in the radial direction and an axial molasses. The MOT and IP trap share the same magnetic field configuration. Continuous loading of atoms into the IP trap is provided by radiative leakage from the MOT to a metastable level which is magnetically trapped and decoupled from the MOT light. We are able to accumulate 30 times more atoms in the MT than in the MOT. The absolute number of 2 × 10⁸ atoms is limited by inelastic collisions. A model based on rate equations shows good agreement with the data. Our scheme can also be applied to other atoms with similar level structure like alkaline earth metals.

Externe Organisation(en)

Universität Stuttgart

Typ

Artikel

Journal

Journal of Optics B: Quantum and Semiclassical Optics

Band

5

Seiten

S170-S177

ISSN

1464-4266

Publikationsdatum

02.04.2003

Publikationsstatus

Veröffentlicht

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Atom- und Molekularphysik sowie Optik, Physik und Astronomie (sonstige)

Elektronische Version(en)

https://doi.org/10.1088/1464-4266/5/2/376 (Zugang: Unbekannt)