title: Atomic laser-beam finder.
abstract: We report on an experimental method to align a laser beam to a cloud of atoms trapped in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). We show how balanced lock-in detection leads to a very sensitive method to align the laser beam to the atoms in the plane perpendicular to the propagation direction. This provides a very reliable and fast way of aligning laser beams to atoms trapped in a MOT.
authors.affiliation: Center for Nonlinear Dynamics and Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
authors.forename: Kirsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Viering
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Medellin
authors.forename: Jianyong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.forename: Mark G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Raizen