Related papers: Observation of quantum diffractive collisions usin…
We present a theoretical investigation of reactive and non-reactive collisions of Li and Rb atoms with C$_{2}^{-}$ molecular anions at low temperatures in the context of sympathetic cooling in hybrid trap experiments. Based on recently…
Laser cooling and trapping are central to modern atomic physics. The workhorse technique in cold-atom physics is the magneto-optical trap (MOT), which combines laser cooling with a restoring force from radiation pressure. For a variety of…
We demonstrate a compact magneto-optical trap (MOT) of alkaline-earth atoms using a nanofabricated diffraction grating chip. A single input laser beam, resonant with the broad $^1$S$_0\,\rightarrow \,^1$P$_1$ transition of strontium, forms…
In this article, we report the measurement of collision-induced loss rate coefficients \beta_{Li,Rb} and \beta_{Rb,Li}, and also discuss means to significantly suppress such collision induced losses. We first describe our dual-species…
We demonstrate three-dimensional trapping of individual Rydberg atoms in holographic optical bottle beam traps. Starting with cold, ground-state $^{87}$Rb atoms held in standard optical tweezers, we excite them to $nS_{1/2}$, $nP_{1/2}$, or…
Reconfigurable arrays of trapped single atoms are an excellent platform for the simulation of many-body physics and the realisation of high-fidelity quantum gates. The confinement of atoms is often achieved with focussed laser beams acting…
We present the properties of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) of CaF molecules. We study the process of loading the MOT from a decelerated buffer-gas-cooled beam, and how best to slow this molecular beam in order to capture the most molecules.…
We present a combined computational and experimental study to optimize the efficiency of evaporative cooling for atoms in optical dipole traps. By employing a kinetic model of evaporation, we provide a strategy for determining the optimal…
Great advances in precision quantum measurement have been achieved with trapped ions and atomic gases at the lowest possible temperatures. These successes have inspired ideas to merge the two systems. In this way one can study the unique…
We perform spectroscopy on the hyperfine splitting of $^{85}$Rb atoms trapped in far-off-resonance optical traps. The existence of a spatially dependent shift in the energy levels is shown to induce an inherent dephasing effect, which…
We have examined loading of 85Rb atoms into a shallow Far-Off-Resonance Trap (FORT) from an optical molasses and compared it to loading from a Magneto-Optical Trap (MOT). We found that substantially more atoms could be loaded into the FORT…
Magneto-Optical Traps have been used for several decades. Among fundamental mechanisms occuring in such traps, the magnitude of the multiple scattering is still unclear. Indeed, many experimental situations cannot be modeled easily,…
We experimentally and numerically study the temporal dynamics of light scattered by large clouds of cold atoms after the exciting laser is switched off in the low intensity (linear optics) regime. Radiation trapping due to multiple…
Precise knowledge of optical lattice depths is important for a number of areas of atomic physics, most notably in quantum simulation, atom interferometry and for the accurate determination of transition matrix elements. In such experiments,…
We present the simultaneous trapping and cooling of ${}^{85}$Rb, ${}^{87}$Rb and ${}^{133}$Cs in a triple-species magneto-optical trap (MOT). This demonstration is obtained using an all-fibre compact and robust laser system based on telecom…
We realize the first magneto-optical trap of an atom in main group III of the Periodic Table. Our atom of choice (indium) does not have a transition out of its ground state suitable for laser cooling; therefore, laser cooling is performed…
Using a blue detuned laser shaped in a Laguerre-Gaussian donut mode we highly collimate the output of a two dimensional magneto-optical trap. The resulting atomic beam has a 1 mm diameter, its divergence is reduced from 40 down to 3 mrad…
An evaporative cooling was performed to cool the fermionic 173Yb atoms in a crossed optical dipole trap. The elastic collision rate, which is important for the evaporation, turns out to be large enough from our study. This large collision…
We present our technique to create a magneto-optical trap for dysprosium atoms using the narrow-line cooling transition at 626$\,$nm to achieve suitable conditions for direct loading into an optical dipole trap. The magneto-optical trap is…
We present studies on the modifications in temperature, number density and phase-space density when a laser cooled atom cloud from the optical molasses is trapped in a quadrupole magnetic trap. Theoretically it is shown that for a given…