Related papers: All-optical atom surface traps implemented with on…
We investigate the operation of pyramidal magneto-optical traps (MOTs) microfabricated in silicon. Measurements of the loading and loss rates give insight into the role of the nearby surface in the MOT dynamics. Studies of the fluorescence…
We report on a stable optical trap suitable for a macroscopic mirror, wherein the dynamics of the mirror are fully dominated by radiation pressure. The technique employs two frequency-offset laser fields to simultaneously create a stiff…
We describe a dynamic magneto-optical trap (MOT) suitable for the use with vacuum systems in which optical access is limited to a single window. This technique facilitates the long-standing desire of producing integrated atom chips, many of…
We present a novel approach to determine the optical properties of materials in the nanoscale range using optical tweezers (OT). Fluorescent polymer-based nanostructures (pdots) are optically trapped in a Gaussian beam OT and the trap…
We describe the realization of atom-optical elements as magnetic waveguide potentials, beam splitters and gravitational traps on a microchip. The microchip was produced by electroplating gold conductors on an aluminium-oxide substrate. The…
All light has structure, but only recently it has become possible to construct highly controllable and precise potentials so that most laboratories can harness light for their specific applications. In this chapter, we review the emerging…
Optical tweezers have become essential tools to manipulate atoms or molecules at a single particle level. However, using standard diffracted-limited optical systems, the transverse size of the trap is lower bounded by the optical…
Optical dipole micro-traps for atoms based on constructive superposition of two-colour evanescent light waves, formed by corresponding optical modes of two crossed suspended photonic rib waveguides, are modelled. The main parameters of the…
It has recently been shown that optical reflection gratings fabricated directly into an atom chip provide a simple and effective way to trap and cool substantial clouds of atoms [1,2]. In this article we describe how the gratings are…
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…
Abstract The magneto-optical trap (MOT) is an essential tool for collecting and preparing cold atoms with a wide range of applications. We demonstrate a planar-integrated MOT by combining an optical grating chip with a magnetic coil chip.…
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…
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…
We demonstrate the possibility of trapping about one hundred million rubidium atoms in a magneto-optical trap with several of the beams passing through a transparent atom chip mounted on a vacuum cell wall. The chip is made of a gold…
We present a magneto-optical trap (MOT) design based on millimeter ball lenses, contained within a metal cube of 0.75$^{\prime \prime}$ side length. We present evidence of trapping approximately $4.2\times 10^5$ of $^{85}$Rb atoms with a…
Nanoparticle-on-mirror plasmonic nanocavities, capable of extreme optical confinement and enhancement, have triggered state-of-the-art progress in nanophotonics and development of applications in enhanced spectroscopies and molecular…
We describe the design and fabrication of novel all-magnetic atom chips for use in ultracold atom trapping. The considerations leading to the choice of nanocrystalline exchange coupled FePt as best material are discussed. Using stray field…
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…
A diffractive optical element (DOE) has been fabricated for creating blue detuned atomic bottle beam traps. The DOE integrates several diffractive lenses for trap creation and imaging of atomic fluorescence. We characterize the performance…
We have realised a 4-beam pyramidal magneto-optical trap ideally suited for future microfabrication. Three mirrors split and steer a single incoming beam into a tripod of reflected beams, allowing trapping in the four-beam overlap volume.…