Hannover 2010 – scientific programme

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 3: Ultra-Cold Atoms: Trapping and Cooling (with Q)

A 3.2: Talk

Monday, March 8, 2010, 14:15–14:30, A 320

Fiber-pigtailed atoms — •Daniel Reitz, Rudolf Mitsch, Melanie Müller, Eugen Vetsch, Samuel T. Dawkins, and Arno Rauschenbeutel — QUANTUM, Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, 55099 Mainz

We present our recent results on trapping laser-cooled cesium atoms around a subwavelength-diameter optical nanofiber. The atoms are localized in the evanescent field in a 1d optical lattice, created by blue- and a red-detuned laser beams, launched through the fiber. We detect the atoms by measuring the absorption of a weak resonant probe beam, sent through the fiber, which couples to the atoms via the evanescent field. Remarkably, the ensemble of 2000 trapped atoms is optically dense. Furthermore, we demonstrate a fiber-based optical conveyor belt. For this purpose, the two counter-propagating red-detuned beams are mutally detuned, thereby setting the optical lattice in motion and transporting the atoms along the fiber. Finally, we demonstrate an interferometric measurement of the optical phase shift due to the atomic ensemble. Our technique opens the route towards the direct integration of laser-cooled atomic ensembles within fiber networks, an important prerequisite for large scale quantum communication schemes. Moreover, it is ideally suited to the realization of hybrid quantum systems that combine atoms with, e.g., solid state quantum devices.

Financial support by the ESF (EURYI Award) and the Volkswagen Foundation (Lichtenberg Professorship) is gratefully acknowledged.