Related papers: A magneto-optic trap using a reversible, solid-sta…
We investigate the production of long lived metastable (3P2, n=4) calcium atoms in a magneto-optical trap operating on the 1S0 to 1P1 transition at 423 nm. For excited 1P1-atoms a weak decay channel into the triplet states 3P2 and 3P1…
A continuously operated electrostatic trap for polar molecules is demonstrated. The trap has a volume of ~0.6 cm^3 and holds molecules with a positive Stark shift. With deuterated ammonia from a quadrupole velocity filter, a trap density of…
We report studies of photon-stimulated desorption (PSD), also known as light-induced atomic desorption(LIAD), of sodium atoms from a vacuum cell glass surface used for loading a magneto-optical trap (MOT). Fluorescence detection was used to…
We demonstrate a simple and compact approach to laser cool and trap atoms based on laser-induced thermal ablation (LITA) of a pure solid granule. A rapid thermalisation of the granule leads to a fast recovery of the ultra-high vacuum…
We present experimental results from a new scheme for magneto-optically trapping strontium monofluoride (SrF) molecules, which provides increased confinement compared to our original work. The improved trap employs a new approach to…
The grating magneto-optical trap (GMOT) requires only one beam and three planar diffraction gratings to form a cloud of cold atoms above the plane of the diffractors. Despite the complicated polarization arrangement, we demonstrate…
We present model-independent measurements of the excited-state population of atoms in a sodium (Na) magneto-optical trap (MOT) using a hybrid ion-neutral trap composed of a MOT and a linear Paul trap (LPT). We photoionize excited Na atoms…
In red-detuned magneto-optical traps (MOTs) of molecules, sub-Doppler heating competes with Doppler cooling, resulting in high temperature and low density. A solution is offered by the blue-detuned MOT where sub-Doppler cooling dominates…
We demonstrate sawtooth wave adiabatic passage (SWAP) in a grating magneto-optical trap (MOT) operating on the $^1$S$_0$ $\rightarrow$ $^3$P$_1$ transition of neutral $^{88}$Sr. From numerical simulations of SWAP using our laser beam…
We demonstrate the possibility of energy-selective removal of cold atoms from a tight optical trap by means of parametric excitation of the trap vibrational modes. Taking advantage of the anharmonicity of the trap potential, we selectively…
We report optical trapping of laser-cooled molecules at sufficient density to observe molecule-molecule collisions for the first time in a bulk gas. SrF molecules from a red-detuned magneto-optical trap (MOT) are compressed and cooled in a…
We have used the narrow $2S_{1/2} \rightarrow 3P_{3/2}$ transition in the ultraviolet (uv) to laser cool and magneto-optically trap (MOT) $^6$Li atoms. Laser cooling of lithium is usually performed on the $2S_{1/2} \rightarrow 2P_{3/2}$…
The newly developed method of time-of-flight (ToF) momentum microscopy was used to analyse the cold electron emission from a Cs 3D magneto-optical trap (MOT). Three-step resonant photoionization was implemented via two intermediate states…
We present a design and performance tests of an intense source of cold hydrogen atoms for loading large magnetic traps. Our source is based on a cryogenic dissociator of molecular hydrogen at 0.6 K followed by a series of thermal…
We explore the efficacy of optical pumping on the $5s4d\,{}^1D_2 - 5s8p\,{}^1P_1$ ($448\,\mathrm{nm}$) transition in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) of Sr atoms. The number of trapped atoms is enhanced by a factor of $12.0(6)$ relative to the…
We created sodium Bose-Einstein condensates in an optically plugged quadrupole magnetic trap (OPT). A focused, 532nm laser beam repelled atoms from the coil center where Majorana loss is significant. We produced condensates of up to $3…
We present a design for an atom chip trap that uses the time-orbiting potential technique. The design offers several advantages compared to other chip-trap methods. It uses a simple crossed-wire pattern on the chip, along with a rotating…
We describe an apparatus where many species of ultracold atoms can be simultaneously trapped and overlapped with many species of ions in a Paul trap. Several design innovations are made to increase the versatility of the apparatus while…
A few 85Rb atoms were trapped in a micron-size magneto-optical trap with a high quadrupole magnetic-field gradient and the number of atoms was precisely controlled by suppressing stochastic loading and loss events via real-time feedback on…
We report our studies on an intense source of cold cesium atoms based on a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap with independent axial cooling and pushing. The new-designed source, proposed as 2D-HP MOT, uses hollow laser beams for axial…