Trap-depth determination from residual gas collisions

被引:26
作者
Van Dongen, J. [1 ]
Zhu, C. [1 ]
Clement, D. [1 ]
Dufour, G. [1 ]
Booth, J. L. [2 ]
Madison, K. W. [1 ]
机构
[1] Univ British Columbia, Dept Phys & Astron, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada
[2] British Columbia Inst Technol, Dept Phys, Burnaby, BC V5G 3H2, Canada
来源
PHYSICAL REVIEW A | 2011年 / 84卷 / 02期
基金
加拿大自然科学与工程研究理事会;
关键词
ALKALI RESONANCE LINES; CROSS-SECTIONS; INTENSITY DEPENDENCE; MAGNETOOPTICAL TRAP; COLD COLLISIONS; LOSSES; ATOMS; LASER; LI-7; SCATTERING;
D O I
10.1103/PhysRevA.84.022708
中图分类号
O43 [光学];
学科分类号
070207 ; 0803 ;
摘要
We present a method for determining the depth of an atomic or molecular trap of any type. This method relies on a measurement of the trap loss rate induced by collisions with background gas particles. Given a fixed gas composition, the loss rate uniquely determines the trap depth. Because of the "soft" long-range nature of the van der Waals interaction, these collisions transfer kinetic energy to trapped particles across a broad range of energy scales, from room temperature to the microkelvin energy scale. The resulting loss rate therefore exhibits a significant variation over an enormous range of trap depths, making this technique a powerful diagnostic with a large dynamic range. We present trap depth measurements of a Rb magneto-optical trap using this method and a different technique that relies on measurements of loss rates during optical excitation of colliding atoms to a repulsive molecular state. The main advantage of the method presented here is its large dynamic range and applicability to traps of any type requiring only knowledge of the background gas density and the interaction potential between the trapped and background gas particles.
引用
收藏
页数:11
相关论文
共 70 条
[1]   Trap loss collisions of 6Li and 7Li with 23Na in a combined magneto-optical trap [J].
Auboeck, G. ;
Binder, C. ;
Holler, L. ;
Wippel, V. ;
Rumpf, K. ;
Szczepkowski, J. ;
Ernst, W. E. ;
Windholz, L. .
JOURNAL OF PHYSICS B-ATOMIC MOLECULAR AND OPTICAL PHYSICS, 2006, 39 (19) :S871-S879
[2]   Measuring the capture velocity of atoms in a magneto-optical trap as a function of laser intensity [J].
Bagnato, VS ;
Marcassa, LG ;
Miranda, SG ;
Muniz, SR ;
de Oliveira, AL .
PHYSICAL REVIEW A, 2000, 62 (01) :5
[3]   Quantum-diffractive background gas collisions in atom-trap heating and loss [J].
Bali, S ;
O'Hara, KM ;
Gehm, ME ;
Granade, SR ;
Thomas, JE .
PHYSICAL REVIEW A, 1999, 60 (01) :R29-R32
[4]   NOVEL INTENSITY DEPENDENCE OF ULTRACOLD COLLISIONS INVOLVING REPULSIVE STATES [J].
BALI, S ;
HOFFMANN, D ;
WALKER, T .
EUROPHYSICS LETTERS, 1994, 27 (04) :273-277
[5]   Imaging-based parametric resonance in an optical dipole-atom trap [J].
Balik, S. ;
Win, A. L. ;
Havey, M. D. .
PHYSICAL REVIEW A, 2009, 80 (02)
[6]   Heating rates in collisionally opaque alkali-metal atom traps: Role of secondary collisions [J].
Beijerinck, HCW .
PHYSICAL REVIEW A, 2000, 62 (06) :063614-063611
[7]   MAGNETOSTATIC TRAPPING FIELDS FOR NEUTRAL ATOMS [J].
BERGEMAN, T ;
EREZ, G ;
METCALF, HJ .
PHYSICAL REVIEW A, 1987, 35 (04) :1535-1546
[8]   A new MOTRIMS apparatus for high resolution measurements in ion-atom collisions and trapped atoms studies [J].
Blieck, J. ;
Flechard, X. ;
Cassimi, A. ;
Gilles, H. ;
Girard, S. ;
Hennecart, D. .
14TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE PHYSICS OF HIGHLY CHARGED IONS (HCI 2008), 2009, 163
[9]   Dual-channel amplification in a single-mode diode laser for multi-isotope laser cooling [J].
Booth, James L. ;
Van Dongen, Janelle ;
Lebel, Paul ;
Klappauf, Bruce G. ;
Madison, Kirk W. .
JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA B-OPTICAL PHYSICS, 2007, 24 (11) :2914-2919
[10]   Magneto-optical trapping of cadmium [J].
Brickman, K. -A. ;
Chang, M. -S. ;
Acton, M. ;
Chew, A. ;
Matsukevich, D. ;
Haljan, P. C. ;
Bagnato, V. S. ;
Monroe, C. .
PHYSICAL REVIEW A, 2007, 76 (04)