A compact, high-flux source of cold atoms
<p>The ongoing drive to transfer quantum technologies from research laboratories to practical, portable devices requires the development of multiple key enabling technologies. The field of cold atoms, which includes high-precision metrology and quantum simulation, has various real-world applic...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2018
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| _version_ | 1826315786171449344 |
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| author | Ravenhall, S |
| author2 | Foot, C |
| author_facet | Foot, C Ravenhall, S |
| author_sort | Ravenhall, S |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | <p>The ongoing drive to transfer quantum technologies from research laboratories to practical, portable devices requires the development of multiple key enabling technologies. The field of cold atoms, which includes high-precision metrology and quantum simulation, has various real-world applications including time-keeping and navigation. A crucial component in these systems is a cold-atom source that generates a flux of low-velocity atoms suitable for subsequent capture. A large flux enables fast repetition rates, high duty cycles, long measurement times, and resistance to long-term performance degradation with a good signal-to-noise ratio, all of which are essential to produce cold-atom devices and technologies that are capable of out-performing the classical alternatives.</p> <p>This thesis presents the design, fabrication and characterisation of a novel cold-atom source using a compact pyramidal magneto-optical trap (MOT) with a unique adjustable-aperture mechanism. This allowed an investigation of the dependence of the flux characteristics on the aperture size, a parameter space that has not previously been explored. The measurements showed a strong dependence of the flux on the aperture size, with a negligible flux below 0.4mm, then an approximately linear increase up to 1.0mm, at which point the relationship showed possible signs of saturation. Using <sup>87</sup>Rb, a flux of 1.18×10<sup>10</sup> atoms/s was produced using a 1.27mm aperture, for which the mean velocity of the atoms was 21.6(3) m/s with a FWHM of 11.2(2) m/s, and the FWHM divergence of the beam was 86(2) mrad. This is the highest recorded flux from a pyramid or 2D<sup>+</sup>-MOT source, and amongst the highest reported fluxes from any MOT sources, and avenues for improvement still remain. This work fulfils the aim of demonstrating a compact and robust cold-atom source generating a high flux of laser-cooled atoms for real-world quantum technology applications.</p> |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T19:20:05Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oxford-uuid:19c66173-84a3-4682-8708-45d1e47db069 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-09T03:32:31Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:19c66173-84a3-4682-8708-45d1e47db0692024-12-01T15:42:57ZA compact, high-flux source of cold atomsThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:19c66173-84a3-4682-8708-45d1e47db069Laser coolingCold atomsPhysicsEnglishORA Deposit2018Ravenhall, SFoot, CKuhn, AHimsworth, M<p>The ongoing drive to transfer quantum technologies from research laboratories to practical, portable devices requires the development of multiple key enabling technologies. The field of cold atoms, which includes high-precision metrology and quantum simulation, has various real-world applications including time-keeping and navigation. A crucial component in these systems is a cold-atom source that generates a flux of low-velocity atoms suitable for subsequent capture. A large flux enables fast repetition rates, high duty cycles, long measurement times, and resistance to long-term performance degradation with a good signal-to-noise ratio, all of which are essential to produce cold-atom devices and technologies that are capable of out-performing the classical alternatives.</p> <p>This thesis presents the design, fabrication and characterisation of a novel cold-atom source using a compact pyramidal magneto-optical trap (MOT) with a unique adjustable-aperture mechanism. This allowed an investigation of the dependence of the flux characteristics on the aperture size, a parameter space that has not previously been explored. The measurements showed a strong dependence of the flux on the aperture size, with a negligible flux below 0.4mm, then an approximately linear increase up to 1.0mm, at which point the relationship showed possible signs of saturation. Using <sup>87</sup>Rb, a flux of 1.18×10<sup>10</sup> atoms/s was produced using a 1.27mm aperture, for which the mean velocity of the atoms was 21.6(3) m/s with a FWHM of 11.2(2) m/s, and the FWHM divergence of the beam was 86(2) mrad. This is the highest recorded flux from a pyramid or 2D<sup>+</sup>-MOT source, and amongst the highest reported fluxes from any MOT sources, and avenues for improvement still remain. This work fulfils the aim of demonstrating a compact and robust cold-atom source generating a high flux of laser-cooled atoms for real-world quantum technology applications.</p> |
| spellingShingle | Laser cooling Cold atoms Physics Ravenhall, S A compact, high-flux source of cold atoms |
| title | A compact, high-flux source of cold atoms |
| title_full | A compact, high-flux source of cold atoms |
| title_fullStr | A compact, high-flux source of cold atoms |
| title_full_unstemmed | A compact, high-flux source of cold atoms |
| title_short | A compact, high-flux source of cold atoms |
| title_sort | compact high flux source of cold atoms |
| topic | Laser cooling Cold atoms Physics |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT ravenhalls acompacthighfluxsourceofcoldatoms AT ravenhalls compacthighfluxsourceofcoldatoms |