Related papers: Cold atom guidance in a capillary using blue-detun…
We report on the preparation of a one-dimensional ultracold medium in a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber, reaching an effective optical depth of 1000(150). We achieved this extreme optical depth by transferring atoms from a…
Experiments and numerical simulations are described that develop quantitative understanding of atomic motion near the surfaces of nanoscopic photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs). Ultracold atoms are delivered from a moving optical lattice…
A key method to produce trapped and laser-cooled molecules is the magneto-optical trap (MOT), which is conventionally created using light red-detuned from an optical transition. In this work, we report a MOT for CaF molecules created using…
We theoretically study the propagation of light through a cold atomic medium, where the effects of motion, laser intensity, atomic density, and polarization can all modify the properties of the scattered light. We present two different…
Optical absorption imaging has become a common technique for detecting the density distribution of ultracold atoms. The defocus effect generally produces artificial spatial structures in the obtained images, which confuses our understanding…
Cold atoms are important for precision atomic applications including timekeeping and sensing. The 3D magneto-optical trap (3D-MOT), used to produce cold atoms, will benefit from photonic integration to improve reliability and reduce size,…
We report a combined experimental and theoretical investigation of near resonance light scattering from a high-density and ultracold atomic $^{87}$Rb gas. The atomic sample, having a peak density $\sim 5\cdot10^{13}$ atoms/cm$^{3}$,…
By performing quantum-noise-limited optical heterodyne detection, we observe polarization noise in light after propagation through a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber (PCF). We compare the noise spectrum to the one of a standard fiber and…
We report the confinement of large clouds of ultra-cold 85-Rb atoms in a standing-wave dipole trap formed by the two counter-propagating modes of a high-Q ring-cavity. Studying the properties of this trap we demonstrate loading of…
We report on the implementation of an optical tweezer system for controlled transport of ultracold atoms along a narrow, static confinement channel. The tweezer system is based on high-efficiency acousto-optical deflectors and offers…
Guiding of highly charged ions (HCI) through tilted capillaries promises to develop into a tool to efficiently collimate and focus low-energy ion beams to sub-micrometer size. One control parameter to optimize guiding is the residual…
We report on our recent progress in the manipulation and cooling of a magnetically guided, high flux beam of $^{87}{\rm Rb}$ atoms. Typically $7\times 10^9$ atoms per second propagate in a magnetic guide providing a transverse gradient of…
We demonstrate direct laser cooling of a gas of rubidium 87 atoms to quantum degeneracy. The method does not involve evaporative cooling, is fast, and induces little atom loss. The atoms are trapped in a two-dimensional optical lattice that…
We present new techniques in cooling 39K atoms using laser light close to the D1 transition. First, a new compressed-MOT configuration is taking advantage of gray molasses type cooling induced by blue-detuned D1 light. It yields an…
With a terahertz time-domain spectrometer (0.3 - 3.0 THz) we have measured the optical conductivity of the type-I clathrate Ba$_8$Ga$_{16}$Sn$_{30}$ at temperatures from 300 K down to 7 K. Independent six spectra superimposed on the Drude…
We demonstrate theoretically that photon-photon attraction can be engineered in the continuum of scattering states for pairs of photons propagating in a hollow-core photonic crystal fiber filled with cold atoms. The atoms are regularly…
Matterwaves made up of ultra-cold quantum-degenerate atoms have enabled the creation of tools having unprecedented sensitivity and precision in measuring gravity, rotation or magnetic fields. Applications range from gravitational wave…
We study the dynamics of neutral cold atoms in an $L$-shaped crossed-beam optical waveguide formed by two perpendicular red-detuned lasers of different intensities and a blue-detuned laser at the corner. Complemented with a vibrational…
We have designed and implemented a straightforward method to deterministically measure the temperature of the selected segment of a cold atom ensemble, and we have also developed an upgrade in the form of nondestructive thermometry. The…
Herschel/HIFI observations toward the compact HII region W51 has revealed the presence of a cold dense core along its line of sight in a high-velocity stream located just in front of W51. This detection has been made possible through…