Related papers: Atomic transport dynamics in crossed optical dipol…
We have demonstrated and modeled a simple and efficient method to transfer atoms from a first Magneto-Optical Trap (MOT) to a second one. Two independent setups, with cesium and rubidium atoms respectively, have shown that a high power and…
We numerically investigate, using the time evolving block decimation algorithm, the quantum transport of ultra-cold bosonic atoms in a double well optical lattice through slow and periodic modulation of the lattice parameters (intra- and…
We propose a novel Sisyphus cooling scheme for atoms confined in a far off resonance optical dipole trap. Utilizing the differential trap-induced AC Stark shift, two electronic levels of the atom are resonantly coupled by a cooling laser…
We experimentally and numerically study the temporal dynamics of light scattered by large clouds of cold atoms after the exciting laser is switched off in the low intensity (linear optics) regime. Radiation trapping due to multiple…
Two recent experiments have reported the trapping of individual atoms inside optical resonators by the mechanical forces associated with single photons [Hood et al., Science 287, 1447 (2000) and Pinkse et al., Nature 404, 365 (2000)]. Here…
Microscopically controlled neutral atoms in optical tweezers and lattices have led to exciting advances in the study of quantum information and quantum many-body systems. The light shifts of atomic levels from the trapping potential in…
In the study of ion-atom interactions, the ion often remain trapped during the experiments. However, the effects of the trapping potential of the ion on ion-neutral interactions remain largely unexplored. Although trap-assisted ion-neutral…
We demonstrate simultaneous deceleration and trapping of a cold atomic and molecular mixture. This is the first step towards studies of cold atom-molecule collisions at low temperatures as well as application of sympathetic cooling. Both…
In the past, light-assisted cold collisions between laser cooled atoms have been widely studied in magneto-optical atom traps (MOTs). We describe here theoretical studies of dynamical interactions, specifically cold collisions, between…
We present a combined computational and experimental study to optimize the efficiency of evaporative cooling for atoms in optical dipole traps. By employing a kinetic model of evaporation, we provide a strategy for determining the optimal…
Ultracold atoms confined by engineered magnetic or optical potentials are ideal systems for studying phenomena otherwise difficult to realize or probe in the solid state because their atomic interaction strength, number of species, density,…
Recent studies have confirmed the coupling of optical vortices, such as Laguerre-Gaussian and Bessel-Gaussian modes, to quadrupole-active atomic transitions. This interaction has been shown to be enhanced considerably in the case of…
Ultrafast electronic dynamics are typically studied using pulsed lasers. We demonstrate a complementary experimental approach: quantum simulation of ultrafast dynamics using trapped ultracold atoms. Counter-intuitively, this technique…
We demonstrate continuous Sisyphus cooling combined with a continuous loading mechanism used to efficiently slow down and accumulate atoms from a guided beam. While the loading itself is based on a single slowing step, applying a radio…
In a thermal ensemble of atoms driven by coherent fields, how does evolution of quantum superposition compete with classical dynamics of optical pumping and atomic diffusion? Is it optical pumping that first prepares a thermal ensemble,…
We simultaneously trap ultracold lithium and cesium atoms in an optical dipole trap formed by the focus of a CO$_2$ laser and study the exchange of thermal energy between the gases. The cesium gas, which is optically cooled to $20 \mu$K,…
We present a scheme to embed molecular anions in a gas of ultracold rubidium atoms as a route towards the preparation of cold molecular ions by collisional cooling with ultracold atoms. Associative detachment as an important loss process in…
Laser-cooled atoms are increasingly being used to realise practical quantum devices, motivating the development of compact and robust atom sources. Grating magneto-optical traps (gMOTs) simplify the cold-atom source architecture but are…
The effect of the dipole-dipole interaction on the far-off-resonance optical dipole trapping scheme is calculated by a mean-field approach. The trapping laser field polarizes the atoms and the accompanying dipole-dipole energy shift deepens…
A cold atomic gas with an inverted population on a transition coupled to a field mode of an optical resonator constitutes a generic model of a laser. For quasi-continuous operation, external pumping, trapping and cooling of the atoms is…