47 research outputs found
A magnetic lens for cold atoms controlled by a rf field
We report on a new type of magnetic lens that focuses atomic clouds using a
static inhomogeneous magnetic field in combination with a radio-frequency
field. The experimental study is performed with a cloud of cold cesium atoms.
The rf field adiabatically deforms the magnetic potential of a coil and
therefore changes its focusing properties. The focal length can be tuned
precisely by changing the rf frequency value. Depending on the rf antenna
position relative to the DC magnetic profile, the focal length of the atomic
lens can be either decreased or increased by the rf field
Anisotropic excitation spectrum of a dipolar quantum Bose gas
We measure the excitation spectrum of a dipolar Chromium Bose Einstein
Condensate with Raman-Bragg spectroscopy. The energy spectrum depends on the
orientation of the dipoles with respect to the excitation momentum,
demonstrating an anisotropy which originates from the dipole-dipole
interactions between the atoms. We compare our results with the Bogoliubov
theory based on the local density approximation, and, at large excitation
wavelengths, with numerical simulations of the time dependent Gross-Pitaevskii
equation. Our results show an anisotropy of the speed of soundComment: 3 figure
Resonant demagnetization of a dipolar BEC in a 3D optical lattice
We study dipolar relaxation of a chromium BEC loaded into a 3D optical
lattice. We observe dipolar relaxation resonances when the magnetic energy
released during the inelastic collision matches an excitation towards higher
energy bands. A spectroscopy of these resonances for two orientations of the
magnetic field provides a 3D band spectroscopy of the lattice. The narrowest
resonance is registered for the lowest excitation energy. Its line-shape is
sensitive to the on-site interaction energy. We use such sensitivity to probe
number squeezing in a Mott insulator, and we reveal the production of
three-body states with entangled spin and orbital degrees of freedom.Comment: 5 pages, 3 Figures, Supplemental Materia
Accumulation and thermalization of cold atoms in a finite-depth magnetic trap
We experimentally and theoretically study the continuous accumulation of cold
atoms from a magneto-optical trap (MOT) into a finite depth trap, consisting in
a magnetic quadrupole trap dressed by a radiofrequency (RF) field. Chromium
atoms (52 isotope) in a MOT are continuously optically pumped by the MOT lasers
to metastable dark states. In presence of a RF field, the temperature of the
metastable atoms that remain magnetically trapped can be as low as 25 microK,
with a density of 10^17 atoms.m-3, resulting in an increase of the phase-space
density, still limited to 7.10^-6 by inelastic collisions. To investigate the
thermalization issues in the truncated trap, we measure the free evaporation
rate in the RF-truncated magnetic trap, and deduce the average elastic cross
section for atoms in the 5D4 metastable states, equal to 7.0 10^-16m2.Comment: 9 pages, 10 Figure
Dipolar atomic spin ensembles in a double-well potential
We experimentally study the spin dynamics of mesoscopic ensembles of
ultracold magnetic spin-3 atoms located in two separated wells of an optical
dipole trap. We use a radio-frequency sweep to selectively flip the spin of the
atoms in one of the wells, which produces two separated spin domains of
opposite polarization. We observe that these engineered spin domains are
metastable with respect to the long-range magnetic dipolar interactions between
the two ensembles. The absence of inter-cloud dipolar spin-exchange processes
reveals a classical behavior, in contrast to previous results with atoms loaded
in an optical lattice. When we merge the two subsystems, we observe
spin-exchange dynamics due to contact interactions which enable the first
determination of the s-wave scattering length of 52Cr atoms in the S=0
molecular channel a_0=13.5^{+11}_{-10.5}a_B (where a_B is the Bohr radius).Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
Thermodynamics of a Bose Einstein condensate with free magnetization
We study thermodynamic properties of a gas of spin 3 52Cr atoms across Bose
Einstein condensation. Magnetization is free, due to dipole-dipole interactions
(DDIs). We show that the critical temperature for condensation is lowered at
extremely low magnetic fields, when the spin degree of freedom is thermally
activated. The depolarized gas condenses in only one spin component, unless the
magnetic field is set below a critical value, below which a non ferromagnetic
phase is favored. Finally we present a spin thermometry efficient even below
the degeneracy temperature.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Averaging out magnetic forces with fast rf-sweeps in an optical trap for metastable chromium atoms
We introduce a novel type of time-averaged trap, in which the internal state
of the atoms is rapidly modulated to modify magnetic trapping potentials. In
our experiment, fast radiofrequency (rf) linear sweeps flip the spin of atoms
at a fast rate, which averages out magnetic forces. We use this procedure to
optimize the accumulation of metastable chomium atoms into an optical dipole
trap from a magneto-optical trap. The potential experienced by the metastable
atoms is identical to the bare optical dipole potential, so that this procedure
allows for trapping all magnetic sublevels, hence increasing by up to 80
percent the final number of accumulated atoms.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Spin squeezing in nonlinear spin coherent states
We introduce the nonlinear spin coherent state via its ladder operator
formalism and propose a type of nonlinear spin coherent state by the nonlinear
time evolution of spin coherent states. By a new version of spectroscopic
squeezing criteria we study the spin squeezing in both the spin coherent state
and nonlinear spin coherent state. The results show that the spin coherent
state is not squeezed in the x, y, and z directions, and the nonlinear spin
coherent state may be squeezed in the x and y directions.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figs, revised version submitted to J. Opt.
Numerical investigation of the quantum fluctuations of optical fields transmitted through an atomic medium
We have numerically solved the Heisenberg-Langevin equations describing the
propagation of quantized fields through an optically thick sample of atoms. Two
orthogonal polarization components are considered for the field and the
complete Zeeman sublevel structure of the atomic transition is taken into
account. Quantum fluctuations of atomic operators are included through
appropriate Langevin forces. We have considered an incident field in a linearly
polarized coherent state (driving field) and vacuum in the perpendicular
polarization and calculated the noise spectra of the amplitude and phase
quadratures of the output field for two orthogonal polarizations. We analyze
different configurations depending on the total angular momentum of the ground
and excited atomic states. We examine the generation of squeezing for the
driving field polarization component and vacuum squeezing of the orthogonal
polarization. Entanglement of orthogonally polarized modes is predicted. Noise
spectral features specific of (Zeeman) multi-level configurations are
identified.Comment: 12 pages 9 figures. Submitted to Physical Review