ABSTRACT
We present an inexpensive, low-noise (<260 µVrms, 0.1 Hz-100 kHz) design for a piezo driver suitable for frequency tuning of external-cavity diode lasers. This simple driver improves upon many commercially available drivers by incorporating circuitry to produce a "feed-forward" signal appropriate for making simultaneous adjustments to the piezo voltage and laser current, enabling dramatic improvements in a mode-hop-free laser frequency tuning range. We present the theory behind our driver's operation, characterize its output noise, and demonstrate its use in absorption spectroscopy on the rubidium D1 line.
ABSTRACT
We present a simple cryostat purpose built for use with surface-electrode ion traps, designed around an affordable, large cooling power commercial pulse tube refrigerator. A modular vacuum enclosure with a single vacuum space facilitates interior access and enables rapid turnaround and flexibility for future modifications. Long rectangular windows provide nearly 360° of optical access in the plane of the ion trap, while a circular bottom window near the trap enables NA 0.4 light collection without the need for in-vacuum optics. We evaluate the system's mechanical and thermal characteristics and we quantify ion trapping performance by trapping (40)Ca(+), finding small stray electric fields, long ion lifetimes, and low ion heating rates.
ABSTRACT
We report the creation of a Bose-Einstein condensate using buffer-gas cooling, the first realization of Bose-Einstein condensation using a broadly general method which relies neither on laser cooling nor unique atom-surface properties. Metastable helium ((4)He*) is buffer-gas cooled, magnetically trapped, and evaporatively cooled to quantum degeneracy. 10(11) atoms are initially trapped, leading to Bose-Einstein condensation at a critical temperature of 5 microK and threshold atom number of 1.1 x 10(6). This method is applicable to a wide array of paramagnetic atoms and molecules, many of which are impractical to laser cool and impossible to surface cool.
ABSTRACT
The Zeeman relaxation rate in cold collisions of Ti(3d(2)4s(2) 3F2) with He is measured. We find that collisional transfer of angular momentum is dramatically suppressed due to the presence of the filled 4s(2) shell. The degree of electronic interaction anisotropy, which is responsible for Zeeman relaxation, is estimated to be about 200 times smaller in the Ti-He complex than in He complexes with typical non-S-state atoms.
ABSTRACT
The ability to create quantum degenerate gases has led to the realization of Bose-Einstein condensation of molecules, atom-atom entanglement and the accurate measurement of the Casimir force in atom-surface interactions. With a few exceptions, the achievement of quantum degeneracy relies on evaporative cooling of magnetically trapped atoms to ultracold temperatures. Magnetic traps confine atoms whose electronic magnetic moments are aligned anti-parallel to the magnetic field. This alignment must be preserved during the collisional thermalization of the atomic cloud. Quantum degeneracy has been reached in spherically symmetric, S-state atoms (atoms with zero internal orbital angular momentum). However, collisional relaxation of the atomic magnetic moments of non-S-state atoms (non-spherical atoms with non-zero internal orbital angular momentum) is thought to proceed rapidly. Here we demonstrate magnetic trapping of non-S-state rare-earth atoms, observing a suppression of the interaction anisotropy in collisions. The atoms behave effectively like S-state atoms because their unpaired electrons are shielded by two outer filled electronic shells that are spherically symmetric. Our results are promising for the creation of quantum degenerate gases with non-S-state atoms, and may facilitate the search for time variation of fundamental constants and the development of a quantum computer with highly magnetic atoms.
