Proposal for an optical funnel trap

Year: 1998

Authors: Morsch O., Meacher D.R.

Autors Affiliation: Univ Oxford, Clarendon Lab, Oxford OX1 3PU, England

Abstract: We propose an all-optical method for channelling and cooling a cloud of laser pre-cooled atoms making use of the light-shifts induced by a doughnut-mode laser beam tuned close to the high frequency side of an atomic resonance. We show that inelastic collisions of the atoms with the optical walls of the trap and optical pumping between differently light-shifted ground state hyperfine sublevels induced by a weak auxiliary repumping beam give rise to a cyclical mechanism which results in the simultaneous cooling and channelling of the atoms. Because the heating due to random scattering of photons is offset by this cooling mechanism, our trap does not suffer the lifetime limitation due to heating inherent to previous optical dipole traps. We present, for a variety of parameters, the results of semi-classical Monte Carlo simulations for a three-dimensional model system. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.

Journal/Review: OPTICS COMMUNICATIONS

Volume: 148 (1-3)      Pages from: 49  to: 53

KeyWords: Ultra-cold atoms
DOI: 10.1016/S0030-4018(97)00680-9

Citations: 22
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