Related papers: All-optical measurement of magnetic fields for qua…
The capture of a moving atom by a non-dissipative trap, such as an optical dipole trap, requires the removal of the excessive kinetic energy of the atom. In this article we develop a mechanism to harvest ultra cold atoms from a guided atom…
The OLYMPUS experiment used a 0.3 T toroidal magnetic spectrometer to measure the momenta of outgoing charged particles. In order to accurately determine particle trajectories, knowledge of the magnetic field was needed throughout the…
Cavity quantum electrodynamics systems using atoms in resonant optical cavities are central elements of many applications such as quantum networks and quantum-enhanced sensing. We present a novel experimental setup that achieves strong…
We consider a laser cooling and trapping of alkaline-earth and similar atoms in a bichromatic field resonant to a closed optical transition $^1S_0 \to \, ^1P_1$ or $^1S_0 \to \, ^3P_1$. It is shown that new kinetic effects emerge compared…
Tightly focused optical dipole traps induce vector light shifts ("fictitious magnetic fields") which complicate their use for single-atom trapping and manipulation. The problem can be mitigated by adding a larger, real magnetic field, but…
We present a dispersive imaging method for trapped quantum gases based on digital off-axis holography. Both phase delay and intensity of the probe field are determined from the same image. Due to the heterodyne gain inherent to the…
Neutral atoms may be trapped via the interaction of their magnetic dipole moment with magnetic field gradients. One of the possible schemes is the cloverleaf trap. It is often desirable to have at hand a fast and precise technique for…
Magneto-optical traps are central to atomic and molecular quantum technologies and precision tests of fundamental physics, where both sensitivity and bandwidth scale strongly with atom number and loading rate. We demonstrate that employing…
Most cold atoms experiments in microgravity platforms or in Space are achieved using atom chips, leading to limitations in terms of optical access and inhomogeneous magnetic fields. Optical dipole traps do not have these drawbacks but have…
Ultracold dysprosium gases, with a magnetic moment ten times that of alkali atoms and equal only to terbium as the most magnetic atom, are expected to exhibit a multitude of fascinating collisional dynamics and quantum dipolar phases,…
We study a resonant interaction of an elliptically polarized light wave with $^{87}$Rb vapor (D$_1$ line) exposed to a transverse magnetic field. A $5$$\times$$5$$\times$$5$~mm$^3$ glass vapor cell is used for the experiments. The wave…
We study a hybrid quantum system composed of an ion and an electric dipole. We show how a trapped ion can be used to measure the small electric field generated by a classical dipole. We discuss the application of this scheme to measure the…
We propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel scheme to magneto-optically trap neutral atoms in a ring shaped trap that can be used to transfer atoms into a circular magnetic trap with high density. This inturn enables to evaporatively…
We describe an atom trapping mechanism based upon differential optical pumping between metastable hyperfine states by partially-displaced laser beams in the absence of a magnetic field. With realistic laser powers, trap spring constants…
Precise control of magnetic fields is a frequent challenge encountered in experiments with atomic quantum gases. Here we present a simple method for performing in-situ monitoring of magnetic fields that can readily be implemented in any…
We demonstrate a combined magneto-optical trap and imaging system that is suitable for the investigation of cold atoms near surfaces. In particular, we are able to trap atoms close to optically scattering surfaces and to image them with an…
We show that an optimized loading of a cold ensemble of rubidium-87 atoms from a magnetic trap into an optical dipole trap sustained by a single, far-red-detuned mode of a high-Q optical cavity can be efficient despite the large volume…
The subject of this review are atom traps based on optical dipole forces in laser fields, along with their unique features as storage devices at ultralow energies. The basic physics of the dipole interaction is discussed, and the…
The stability of matter-wave sensors benefits from interrogating large-particle-number atomic ensembles at high cycle rates. The use of quantum-degenerate gases with their low effective temperatures allows constraining systematic errors…
Optical microtraps provide a strong spatial confinement for laser-cooled atoms. They can, e.g., be realized with strongly focused trapping light beams or the optical near fields of nano-scale waveguides and photonic nanostructures. Atoms in…