Related papers: Purely optical macroscopic trap for alkaline-earth…
The development of the magneto-optical trap revolutionized the fields of atomic and quantum physics by providing a simple method for the rapid production of ultracold, trapped atoms. A similar technique for producing a diverse set of dense,…
We show the possibility of implementing a deep dissipative optical lattice for neutral atoms with a macroscopic period. The depth of the lattice can reach magnitudes comparable to the depth of the magneto-optical traps (MOT), while the…
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…
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.…
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…
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…
Optical trapping and ions combine unique advantages of independently striving fields of research. Light fields can form versatile potential landscapes, such as optical lattices, for neutral and charged atoms, avoiding detrimental…
A new trap for atoms and small particles based on the interaction between an atom and the field of counter-propagating light pulses that are partially superposed in time has been proposed. A substantial difference from the known analogs…
First laser cooling and trapping of the heavy alkaline earth element barium has been achieved based on the strong 6s$^2$ $^1$S$_0$ - 6s6p $^1$P$_1$ transition for the main cooling. Due to the large branching into metastable D-states several…
We present experimental techniques and results related to the optimization and characterization of our nanofiber-based atom trap [Vetsch et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 203603 (2010)]. The atoms are confined in an optical lattice which is…
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 present a novel optical cooling scheme that relies on hyperfine dark states to enhance loading and cooling atoms inside deep optical dipole traps. We demonstrate a seven-fold increase in the number of atoms loaded in the conservative…
We demonstrate a compact magneto-optical trap (MOT) of alkaline-earth atoms using a nanofabricated diffraction grating chip. A single input laser beam, resonant with the broad $^1$S$_0\,\rightarrow \,^1$P$_1$ transition of strontium, forms…
Trapping of single ultracold atoms is an important tool for applications ranging from quantum computation and communication to sensing. However, most experimental setups, while very precise and versatile, can only be operated in specialized…
Laser cooling on weak transitions is a useful technique for reaching ultracold temperatures in atoms with multiple valence electrons. However, for strongly magnetic atoms a conventional narrow-line magneto-optical trap (MOT) is destabilized…
In a recent paper, we have proposed a novel laser cooling scheme for reducing collisional energy of a pair of atoms by using photoassociative transitions. In that paper, we considered two atoms in free space, that is we have not considered…
We propose an alternative method to laser cooling. Our approach utilizes the extreme brightness of a supersonic atomic beam, and the adiabatic atomic coilgun to slow atoms in the beam or to bring them to rest. We show how internal-state…
We demonstrate for the first time the two-color cooling and trapping of alkaline-earth atoms in a grating magneto-optical trap (gMOT). The trap is formed by a single incident laser beam together with four secondary beams that are generated…
We present an optical approach to compensating for spatially varying ac-Stark shifts that appear on atomic ensembles subject to strong optical control or trapping fields. The introduction of an additional weak light field produces an…
We have studied a general technique for laser cooling a cloud of polarized trapped atoms down to the Doppler temperature. A one-dimensional optical molasses using polarized light cools the axial motional degree of freedom of the atoms in…