Frankfurt 2006 – wissenschaftliches Programm

Bereiche | Tage | Auswahl | Suche | Downloads | Hilfe

Q: Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 34: Poster Quantengase

Q 34.20: Poster

Dienstag, 14. März 2006, 16:30–18:30, Labsaal

Towards an atom laser by all-optical means — •Maic Zaiser, Tobias Müller, Thijs Wendrich, Michael Gilowski, Ernst Maria Rasel und Wolfgang Ertmer — Institut für Quantenoptik, Universität Hannover, Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover

Pulsed (or even continuous) atom lasers represent a highly monochromatic source of atoms in a well-defined quantum state with extremely high brilliance. We present a new concept for an experimental setup which aims at Bose-Einstein-Condensation (BEC) in dilute atomic gases of ⁸⁷Rb by all-optical means. The atomic source consists of a two stage design, where the atoms will be pre-cooled in two dimensions in a magneto-optical trap (2D-MOT) and then loaded into a 3D-MOT. In the 3D-MOT the atoms will be further cooled down to typically ∼ 10 µK and then loaded into an optical dipole trap generated by a far-off resonant laser beam. In the new setup this trap may be realized in various configurations, like a single or crossed beam geometry or even a 3D-lattice. Quantum degeneracy will then be achieved by evaporative cooling in the dipole trap. The new setup will provide a high degree of flexibility and transportability allowing for various different kinds of experiments. We will investigate the potential of such an atomic source for precision atom interferometry, such as the Cold Atom Sagnac Interferometer (CASI) [1], an extremely sensitive inertial sensor for rotation and acceleration currently being set up in Hannover. This work is part of the project FINAQS funded by the European Union.

[1] C. Jentsch, T. Müller, E. M. Rasel, and W. Ertmer, Gen. Rel. Grav. 36(10), 2197 (2004)