Related papers: Self-sustained oscillations in a Large Magneto-Opt…
We describe the application of displaced, or misaligned, beams in a mirror-based magneto-optical trap (MOT) to enable portable and miniaturized atom chip experiments, where optical access is limited to a single window. Two different…
We present a theoretical model to describe an instability mechanism in ultra-cold gases, where long-range interactions are taken into account. Focusing on the nonlinear coupling between the collective (plasma-like) and the center-of-mass…
We study the evolution of a trapped atomic cloud subject to a trapping frequency jump for two cases: stationary and moving center of mass. In the first case, the frequency jump initiates oscillations in the cloud's momentum and size. At…
We report on magneto-optical trapping of fermionic 53Cr atoms. A Zeeman-slowed atomic beam provides loading rates up to 3 10^6 /s. We present systematic characterization of the magneto-optical trap (MOT). We obtain up to 5 10^5 atoms in the…
Super-oscillating beams can be used to create light spots whose size is below the diffraction limit with a side ring of high intensity adjacent to them. Optical traps made of the super-oscillating part of such beams exhibit superior…
We describe the setup to create a large Bose-Einstein condensate containing more than 120x10^6 atoms. In the experiment a thermal beam is slowed by a Zeeman slower and captured in a dark-spot magneto-optical trap (MOT). A typical dark-spot…
We demonstrate significantly improved magneto-optical trapping of molecules using a very slow cryogenic beam source and RF modulated and DC magnetic fields. The RF MOT confines $1.1(3) \times 10^5$ CaF molecules at a density of $4(1) \times…
We propose a rigorous theory for the optical trapping by optical vortices, which is emerging as an important tool to trap mesoscopic particles. The common perception is that the trapping is solely due to the gradient force, and may be…
We report on trapping of fermionic 40K atoms in a red-detuned standing-wave optical trap, loaded from a magneto-optical trap. Typically, 10^6 atoms are loaded at a density of 10^12 cm^-3 and a temperature of 65 microK, and trapped for more…
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…
We show that, for a near-resonant propagating beam, a large cloud of cold 87Rb atoms acts as a saturable Kerr medium and produces self-trapping of light. By side fluorescence imaging we monitor the transverse size of the beam and, depending…
The multiple scattering of light in a gas of ultra cold atoms is responsible for many exciting features observed in magneto-optical traps including the collective behavior forced by a Coulomb like potential. This field also induces plasma…
We experimentally demonstrate optical dipole trapping of a cloud of cold atoms by means of a dynamically coupled mode of a high-finesse cavity. We show that the trap requires a collective action of the atoms, i.e. a single atom would not be…
Clouds of cold neutral atoms driven by a coherent light beam in a ring cavity exhibit self-structured states transversely with respect to the beam axis due to optomechanical forces and the back action of the atomic structures on the beam.…
We observe the opto-mechanical multistability of a macroscopic torsion balance oscillator. The torsion oscillator forms the moving mirror of a hemi-spherical laser light cavity. When a laser beam is coupled into this cavity, the radiation…
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…
All experiments, which have been proposed so far to model the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in the laboratory, involve a Couette flow of liquid metals in a rotating annulus. All liquid metals have small magnetic Prandtl numbers, Pm,…
We report the fast accumulation of a large number of metastable 52Cr atoms in a mixed trap, formed by the superposition of a strongly confining optical trap and a quadrupolar magnetic trap. The steady state is reached after about 400 ms,…
We describe an experiment in which cold rubidium atoms, confined in an elongated magnetic trap, are excited by transverse oscillation of the trap centre. The temperature after excitation exhibits resonance as a function of the driving…
We study the quantum coherent-tunneling between two Bose-Einstein condensates separated through an oscillating trap potential. The cases of slowly and rapidly varying in time trap potential are considered. In the case of a slowly varying…