Stuttgart 2012 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 34: Poster 1

Q 34.61: Poster

Dienstag, 13. März 2012, 16:30–19:00, Poster.I+II

Compact electronics for laser system in microgravity — •Thijs Wendrich, Wolfgang Ertmer, and Ernst Maria Rasel — Leibniz Universität Hannover, Institut für Quantenoptik

Microgravity experiments with ultra cold degenerate quantum gases require very compact and robust apparatuses that contain everything for the experiment including vacuum, lasers, optics, and electronics. The LASUS project develops diode lasers, optical modules and electronics for such experiments, and specifically for the QUANTUS experiments in the drop tower in Bremen and on sounding rockets. In this poster we present the electronics that have been developed to operate an entire laser system for capturing and manipulating rubidium and potassium together with the electronics for the optical switching and frequency shifting, and that fits in a volume of only a few liters. We will pay special attention to the FPGA-based frequency controller which integrates the modulation and demodulation circuits for a spectroscopy lock as well as several frequency counters for offset locking together with the PID controllers in a single compact device. All parameters of the device are computer controlled enabling advanced features like automatic searching for an atomic transition or automatic recovery of errors. The LASUS project is a collaboration of FBH Berlin, HU Berlin, U Hamburg and LU Hannover supported by the German Space Agency DLR with funds provided by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) under grant number 50WM0939.