Related papers: Design and fabrication of diffractive atom chips f…
A planar triplet of diffraction gratings is used to transform a single laser beam into a four-beam tetrahedral magneto-optical trap. This `flat' pyramid diffractor geometry is ideal for future microfabrication. We demonstrate the technique…
We have studied the optical properties of gratings micro-fabricated into semiconductor wafers, which can be used for simplifying cold-atom experiments. The study entailed characterisation of diffraction efficiency as a function of coating,…
Grating magneto-optical traps are an enabling quantum technology for portable metrological devices with ultracold atoms. However, beam diffraction efficiency and angle are affected by wavelength, creating a single-optic design challenge for…
Laser cooled atoms are central to modern precision measurements. They are also increasingly important as an enabling technology for experimental cavity quantum electrodynamics, quantum information processing and matter wave interferometry.…
A magneto-optical trap of cesium atoms was generated by applying a circularly polarized cooling laser beam onto a reflective two-dimensional diffraction grating with an aperture and by retroreflecting the incident beam passing through the…
We present a mechanism for cooling atoms by a laser beam reflected from a single mirror. The cooling relies on the dipole force and thus in principle applies to arbitrary refractive particles including atoms, molecules, or dielectric…
We have used diffraction gratings to simplify the fabrication, and dramatically increase the atomic collection efficiency, of magneto-optical traps using micro-fabricated optics. The atom number enhancement was mainly due to the increased…
Diffraction gratings integrated into an atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) setup offer a compact and efficient route toward atom cooling and trapping, thus preparing magneto-optical traps (MOT) for insertion into future scalable quantum…
We develop a versatile theoretical approach to the study of cold-atom diffractive scattering from light-field gratings by combining calculations of the optical near-field, generated by evanescent waves close to the surface of periodic…
Ultracold atoms are crucial for unlocking truly precise and accurate quantum metrology, and provide an essential platform for quantum computing, communication and memories. One of the largest ongoing challenges is the miniaturization of…
We present a theoretical analysis of a novel scheme for optical cooling of particles that does not in principle require a closed optical transition. A tightly confined laser beam interacting with a trapped particle experiences a phase…
Superconducting atom chips have very significant advantages in realizing trapping structures for ultracold atoms compared to conventional atom chips. We extend these advantages further by developing the ability to dynamically tailor the…
Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) have been proposed for many applications in atom interferometry, as their coherence over long evolution times promises unprecedented sensitivity. To date, BECs can be efficiently created in devices using…
Atoms can be trapped and guided using nano-fabricated wires on surfaces, achieving the scales required by quantum information proposals. These Atom Chips form the basis for robust and widespread applications of cold atoms ranging from atom…
We discuss the applicability of holographically recorded gratings in photopolymers and holographic polymer-dispersed liquid crystals as neutron optical elements. An experimental investigation of their properties for light and neutrons with…
The term `laser cooling' is applied to the use of optical means to cool the motional energies of either atoms and molecules, or micromirrors. In the literature, these two strands are kept largely separate; both, however suffer from severe…
Atomic systems have long provided a useful material platform with unique quantum properties. The efficient light-matter interaction in atomic vapors has led to numerous seminal scientific achievements including accurate and precise…
We have laser cooled 3$\times10^6$ $^{87}$Rb atoms to 3$\mu$K in a micro-fabricated grating magneto-optical trap (GMOT), enabling future mass-deployment in highly accurate compact quantum sensors. We magnetically trap the atoms, and use…
Optical dipole traps and atom chips are two very powerful tools for the quantum manipulation of neutral atoms. We demonstrate that both methods can be combined by creating an optical lattice potential on an atom chip. A red-detuned laser…
A few years ago, diffraction of atoms by double slits and gratings was achieved for the first time, and standard optical wave-theory provided an excellent description of the experiments. More recently, diffraction of weakly bound molecules…