Related papers: A compact and efficient strontium oven for laser-c…
Laser-cooled gases of atoms interacting with the field of an optical cavity are a powerful tool for quantum sensing and the simulation of open and closed quantum systems. They can display spontaneous self-organisation phase transitions,…
Long-baseline atom interferometers, such as the one to be built by the AION collaboration, require ultra-cold atomic clouds. These are produced by trapping the atoms in Magneto-Optical Traps (MOTs) using high-power, narrow-linewidth lasers.…
We present a spectroscopy scheme for the 7-kHz-wide 689-nm intercombination line of strontium. We rely on shelving detection, where electrons are first excited to a metastable state by the spectroscopy laser before their state is probed…
We demonstrate direct loading of a strontium (Sr) magneto-optical trap (MOT) from a thermal atomic beam in a single-chamber vacuum system. The MOT operates without a Zeeman slower, a slowing laser, a two-dimensional MOT, or differential…
We designed, demonstrated, and characterized an atom source based on fiber-based pulsed laser ablation. By using commercially available miniature lens system for focusing nanosecond pulsed laser of up to 225~$\mu$J delivered through a…
We present a dual-species effusive source and Zeeman slower designed to produce slow atomic beams of two elements with a large mass difference and with very different oven temperature requirements. We demonstrate this design for the case of…
We report a compact setup with in-series two-dimensional magneto-optical traps (2D MOTs) that provides high-flux cold lithium and rubidium atoms. Thanks to the efficient short-distance Zeeman slowing, the maximum 3D MOT loading rate of…
Highly stable laser sources based on narrow atomic transitions provide a promising platform for direct generation of stable and accurate optical frequencies. Here we investigate a simple system operating in the high-temperature regime of…
We report on the attainment of Bose-Einstein condensation with ultracold strontium atoms. We use the 84Sr isotope, which has a low natural abundance but offers excellent scattering properties for evaporative cooling. Accumulation in a…
We present an experimental setup to laser cool and trap a large number of Ytterbium atoms. Our design uses an oven with an array of microtubes for efficient collimation of the atomic beam and we implement a magneto-optical trap of…
Optical atomic clocks demonstrate a better stability and lower systematic uncertainty than the highest performance microwave atomic clocks. However, the best performing optical clocks have a large footprint in a laboratory environment and…
We explore, theoretically and experimentally, a method for cooling a broadband heat reservoir, via its laser-assisted collisions with two-level atoms followed by their fluorescence. This method is shown to be advantageous compared to…
In a recent experiment on the Trident laser facility, a laser-driven beam of quasi-monoenergetic aluminum ions was used to heat solid gold and diamond foils isochorically to 5.5 eV and 1.7 eV, respectively. Here theoretical calculations are…
We report laser cooling and trapping of $^{224}$Ra$^+$ ions. This was realized via two-step photoionization loading of radium into an ion trap. A robust source for $^{224}$Ra atoms, which have a 3.6-day half-life, was realized with an…
We present an interrogation laser system for a transportable strontium lattice clock operating at 698 nm, which is based on an ultra-low-expansion glass reference cavity. Transportability is achieved by implementing a rigid, compact, and…
We developed a high-power laser system at a wavelength of 399 nm for laser cooling of ytterbium atoms with ultraviolet laser diodes. The system is composed of an external cavity laser diode providing frequency stabilized output at a power…
A low temperature oven has been developed to produce calcium beam with Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source (ECRIS). The atom flux from the oven has been studied experimentally as a function of the temperature and the angle of emission…
We report validation tests of a calcium atomic-beam source fabricated via Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF). The surface quality and elemental composition of the printed component were quantitatively assessed, allowing us to establish…
We present a method for producing three-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates using only laser cooling. The phase transition to condensation is crossed with $2.5 {\times} 10^{4}$ $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms at a temperature of $T_{\mathrm{c}}…
To date, the laser cooling of rubidium atoms has inevitably relied on 780 nm cooling light corresponding to the first excited state $5\mathrm{P}_{3/2}$. Surprisingly, we demonstrate laser cooling directly utilizing 420 nm blue light for…