55 research outputs found
A Bose-Einstein condensate bouncing off a rough mirror
We present experimental results and theoretical analysis of the diffuse
reflection of a Bose-Einstein condensate from a rough mirror. The mirror is
produced by a blue-detuned evanescent wave supported by a dielectric substrate.
The results are carefully analysed via a comparison with a numerical
simulation. The scattering is clearly anisotropic, more pronounced in the
direction of the evanescent wave surface propagation, as predicted
theoretically
Schemes for loading a Bose-Einstein condensate into a two-dimensional dipole trap
We propose two loading mechanisms of a degenerate Bose gas into a surface
trap. This trap relies on the dipole potential produced by two evanescent
optical waves far detuned from the atomic resonance, yielding a strongly
anisotropic trap with typical frequencies 40 Hz x 65 Hz x 30 kHz. We present
numerical simulations based on the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation of
the transfer process from a conventional magnetic trap into the surface trap.
We show that, despite a large discrepancy between the oscillation frequencies
along one direction in the initial and final traps, a loading time of a few
tens of milliseconds would lead to an adiabatic transfer. Preliminary
experimental results are presented
Diffraction of a Bose-Einstein Condensate in the Time Domain
We have observed the diffraction of a Bose-Einstein condensate of rubidium
atoms on a vibrating mirror potential. The matter wave packet bounces back at
normal incidence on a blue-detuned evanescent light field after a 3.6 mm free
fall. The mirror vibrates at a frequency of 500 kHz with an amplitude of 3.0
nm. The atomic carrier and sidebands are directly imaged during their ballistic
expansion. The locations and the relative weights of the diffracted atomic wave
packets are in very good agreement with the theoretical prediction of Carsten
Henkel et al. [1].Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.
A ring trap for ultracold atoms
We propose a new kind of toroidal trap, designed for ultracold atoms. It
relies on a combination of a magnetic trap for rf-dressed atoms, which creates
a bubble-like trap, and a standing wave of light. This new trap is well suited
for investigating questions of low dimensionality in a ring potential. We study
the trap characteristics for a set of experimentally accessible parameters. A
loading procedure from a conventional magnetic trap is also proposed. The
flexible nature of this new ring trap, including an adjustable radius and
adjustable transverse oscillation frequencies, will allow the study of
superfluidity in variable geometries and dimensionalities.Comment: 4 figures, 10 pages ; the order of the sections has been changed ; to
appear in Phys. Rev.
Evaporative cooling in a radio-frequency trap
A theoretical investigation for implementing a scheme of forced evaporative
cooling in radio-frequency (rf) adiabatic potentials is presented. Supposing
the atoms to be trapped by a rf field RF1, the cooling procedure is facilitated
using a second rf source RF2. This second rf field produces a controlled
coupling between the spin states dressed by RF1. The evaporation is then
possible in a pulsed or continuous mode. In the pulsed case, atoms with a given
energy are transferred into untrapped dressed states by abruptly switching off
the interaction. In the continuous case, it is possible for energetic atoms to
adiabatically follow the doubly-dressed states and escape out of the trap. Our
results also show that when the frequencies of the fields RF1 and RF2 are
separated by at least the Rabi frequency associated with RF1, additional
evaporation zones appear which can make this process more efficient.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figure
Trapping and cooling of rf-dressed atoms in a quadrupole magnetic field
6 pages, 6 figures; to appear in J. Phys. BInternational audienceWe observe the spontaneous evaporation of atoms confined in a bubble-like rf-dressed trap (Zobay and Garraway, 2001). The atoms are confined in a quadrupole magnetic trap and are dressed by a linearly polarized rf field. The evaporation is related to the presence of holes in the trap, at the positions where the rf coupling vanishes, due to its vectorial character. The final temperature results from a competition between residual heating and evaporation efficiency, which is controlled via the height of the holes with respect to the bottom of the trap. The experimental data are modeled by a Monte-Carlo simulation predicting a small increase in phase space density limited by the heating rate. This increase was within the phase space density determination uncertainty of the experiment
Source laser intense pour le refroidissement du 87Rb par doublement de fréquence d'un laser fibré télécom
to appear in EPJ-ST; COLOQ11 ProceedingsWe built a frequency-doubled laser for 87Rb laser cooling, from a Telecom fiber laser. Thanks to intense technological development, telecom fiber lasers exhibit outstanding properties regarding relative intensity noise and modulation bandwidth. The enhanced doubling efficiency of periodically poled crystals allowed to obtain up to 1.8 W at 780 nm from 10 W at 1560 nm, with a simple pass configuration in a 50-mm long crystal of ppLN:MgO. This technique can also be applied at the wavelength of potassium (767 nm) (Bourdel, 2009) and could be of great interest for the realization of dipole traps
Molecular Fragmentation of Acetylene by VUV Double Photoionization
Acetylene is a simple molecule of interest for interstellar medium (ISM) and planetary atmospheres. The presence of C2H2 was detected by IR spectroscopic measurements. Acetylene was also found as a minor component in the atmosphere of gas giants like the planet Jupiter, in the atmosphere of Saturn's satellite Titan, and in comets, where photochemical experiments have demonstrated that this simple hydrocarbon is a likely precursor of C2, a widely observed component in such environments. It has to be noted that the presence in planetary atmospheres and ISM of Vacuum Ultra Violet (VUV) light's photons as well as cosmic rays makes highly probable the double photoionization of molecular species with the production of molecular dications producing subsequent dissociation into ionic fragments having a high kinetic energy content of several eV. This translational energy is sufficient in some cases to allow ions escape from the upper atmosphere of some planet of the Solar System, as Venus, Mars and Titan, into space. In this contribution we present the experimental study of the microscopic dynamics of the two-body dissociation reactions of the C2H2+2 dication, induced by the double ionization of acetylene molecules by VUV photons in the energy range of 31.9–50.0 eV. The photoionizing agent was a tunable synchrotron radiation beam, while ion products are revealed by coupling photoelectron-photoion-photoion-coincidence and ion imaging techniques. The measured angular distributions and kinetic energy of product ions exhibit significant changes (as the photon energy increases) for the three leading dissociation reactions producing H++C2H+, C++CH2+, and CH++CH+, providing detailed information on the fragmentation dynamics of the C2H22+ dication
Influence of the Radio-Frequency source properties on RF-based atom traps
We discuss the quality required for the RF source used to trap neutral atoms
in RF-dressed potentials. We illustrate this discussion with experimental
results obtained on a Bose-Einstein condensation experiment with different RF
sources.Comment: 5 figures, 7 page
- …