Düsseldorf 2007 – scientific programme
Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help
Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 46: Quantengase (Wechselwirkungseffekte)
Q 46.2: Talk
Wednesday, March 21, 2007, 16:45–17:00, 6J
Large ensembles of ultracold atoms in an ultrahigh-finesse optical cavity — •Stephan Ritter, Tobias Donner, Ferdinand Brennecke, Anton Öttl, Thomas Bourdel, Michael Köhl, and Tilman Esslinger — Institut für Quantenelektronik, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Schweiz
The presence of very large numbers of atoms inside an ultrahigh-finesse optical cavity leads to an extremely strong coupling between light and matter. Therefore unprecedentedly large vacuum Rabi splittings can be observed in such systems. The properties of the coupled atom-cavity system drastically differ from those of its bare constituents and allow to study the collective behavior of the atom sample.
In our setup, we produce a Bose-Einstein condensate of 87Rb atoms in a magnetic trap 36 mm above an ultrahigh-finesse optical cavity [1]. We vertically transport more than 105 atoms from the magnetic trap into the cavity mode using a red-detuned standing wave. Inside the cavity, various beam geometries allow for the trapping and manipulation of the atom cloud. We study the transmission properties of the cavity in the presence of large atom numbers. Alternatively, the atoms are pumped from the side and the light scattered into the cavity mode is analyzed. Properties and capabilities of the coupled system of an ultrahigh-finesse optical cavity and a large ensembles of atoms are described and the current status of the experiment is reviewed.
[1] A. Öttl, S. Ritter, M. Köhl, and T. Esslinger,Rev. Sci. Instrum. 77, 063118 (2006).