Erlangen 2022 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 21: Ultracold Atoms and Plasmas (joint session Q/A)

Q 21.4: Poster

Tuesday, March 15, 2022, 16:30–18:30, P

Generation of time-averaged potentials using acusto-optical deflectors — •Vera Vollenkemper, Henning Albers, Sebastian Bode, Alexander Herbst, Knut Stolzenberg, Ernst M. Rasel, and Dennis Schlippert — Institute of Quantum Optics, Leibniz University Hannover, Welfengarten 1, 30167, Hannover, Germany

The production of degenerated quantum gases in optical dipole traps is a cornerstone of many modern experiments in atomic physics. To achieve ultracold temperatures evaporative cooling is commonly used. However, the long timescales of a few seconds for conventional evaporative cooling represent a bottleneck for many applications like inertial sensors, where high repetition rates are essential. Time-averaged optical potentials are a technique to shorten these timescales and therefore significantly increasing the repetition rate. Among other methods, these potentials can be implemented using an 2D acusto-optical deflector (AOD) modulating the trapping laser beam. Due to the nonlinearity of the AOD the input frequency ramps are not exactly imprinted on the beam and therefore the exact form of the potential in the trap is unknown. To investigate the resulting shape of the trapping potential a test stand was set up. We test the influence of different RF-sources, lens systems and modulation techniques. The generated trap geometries are analyzed using a large beam profiling camera. We compare the measured potentials and frequency ramps imprinted on the laser beam to the theoretically expected ones.