Mirror magneto-optical trap using circularly polarized light-emitting optical fibers.
A fiber-optic mirror magneto-optical trap (mirror-MOT) that uses a pair of circularly polarized light-emitting optical fibers as an optical access is demonstrated. The fiber is fabricated so that a length of birefringence fiber, designed to be a quarter wave retarder at both wavelengths of 780 and 852 nm, is attached directly onto a polarization-maintaining normal fiber. The polarization states of light emitted from the fibers are sufficiently circular for the operation of a mirror-MOT with 87Rb atoms. The mirror-MOT is able to capture approximately the same number of atoms obtainable with a conventional mirror-MOT. The technique makes it possible to fabricate a compact MOT apparatus by introducing the optical fibers directly into an ultrahigh-vacuum chamber.
Hyodo
Masaharu
M
Kansai Advanced Research Center, National Institute of Information and Communications Technology, Kobe, Japan. hyodo@nict.go.jp
Nakayama
Kazuyuki
K
Ohmukai
Ryuzo
R
Kurihara
Kazuyoshi
K
Watanabe
Masayoshi
M