Related papers: Enhanced Atom Capture via Multi-Frequency Magneto-…
Magneto-optical traps (MOTs) are widely used for laser cooling of atoms. We have developed a high-flux compact cold-atom source based on a pyramid MOT with a unique adjustable aperture that is highly suitable for portable quantum technology…
We describe a novel method of single-shot trap frequency measurement for a confined Bose-Einstein Condensate, which uses an atom laser to repeatedly sample the mean velocity of trap oscillations as a function of time. The method is able to…
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…
Trapping cold, chemically important molecules with electromagnetic fields is a useful technique to study small molecules and their interactions. Traps provide long interaction times that are needed to precisely examine these low density…
We demonstrate Faraday spectroscopy with high duty cycle and sampling rate using atoms confined to a blue-detuned optical trap. Our trap consists of a crossed pair of high-charge-number hollow laser beams, which forms a dark, box-like…
Efficient loading of single atoms into tightly confined traps is crucial for advancing quantum information processing and exploring atom-photon interactions. However, directly loading atoms from a magneto-optical trap (MOT) into static…
We propose a new spectroscopic method for measuring weak transitions in cold and trapped atoms, which exploits the long interaction times and tight confinement offered by dark optical traps together with an electron shelving technique to…
As a heavy molecule, barium monofluoride (BaF) presents itself as a promising candidate for measuring permanent electric dipole moment. The precision of such measurements can be significantly enhanced by utilizing a cold molecular sample.…
A key element in the study of cold atoms, and their use in emerging quantum technologies, is trapping the atoms in an ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber. Many methods have been used to trap atoms including atom chips and magneto-optical traps…
We report on an investigation of loading characteristics of deep microscopic dipole traps. The dipole trap is loaded from a low density magneto optical trap (MOT) containing $\approx 5\times 10^{6}$ atoms. We determine the loading…
We report sensitive detection of parametric resonances in a high-density sample of ultracold $^{87}Rb$ atoms confined to a far-off-resonance optical dipole trap. Fluorescence imaging of the expanded ultracold atom cloud after a period of…
We demonstrate the measurement of mass of the absorbing micro-particle trapped in air by optical forced oscillation. When the trapping light intensity is modulated sinusoidally, the particle in the trap undergoes forced oscillation and the…
Experiments with cold atoms trapped in optical lattices offer the potential to realize a variety of novel phases but suffer from severe spatial inhomogeneity that can obscure signatures of new phases of matter and phase boundaries. We use a…
We study the properties of a Rb magneto-optic trap loaded from a commercial getter source which provides a large flux of atoms for the trap along with the capability of rapid turn-off necessary for obtaining long trap lifetimes. We have…
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…
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…
Optically trapped laser-cooled polar molecules hold promise for new science and technology in quantum information and quantum simulation. Large numerical aperture optical access and long trap lifetimes are needed for many studies, but these…
We confine 4 10^8 fermionic 6Li atoms simultaneously with 9 10^9 bosonic 7Li atoms in a magneto-optical trap based on an all-semiconductor laser system. We optimize the two-isotope sample for sympathetic evaporative cooling. This is an…
This thesis presents three studies in quantum-enhanced sensing and target detection. The first study explores covert target detection using optical or microwave probes, establishing quantum-mechanical limits on the error probabilities of…
Individual laser cooled atoms are delivered on demand from a single atom magneto-optic trap to a high-finesse optical cavity using an atom conveyor. Strong coupling of the atom with the cavity field allows simultaneous cooling and detection…