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A dense gas of laser-cooled atoms for hybrid atom–ion trapping

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Abstract

We describe the realization of a dark spontaneous-force trap of rubidium atoms. The atoms are loaded from a beam provided by a two-dimensional magneto-optical trap yielding a capture efficiency of 75%. The dense and cold atomic sample is characterized by saturated absorption imaging. Up to \(10^9\) atoms are captured with a loading rate of \(3\times 10^9\) atoms/s into a cloud at a temperature of 250 \(\mu\)K with the density exceeding \(10^{11}\) atoms/cm\(^3\). Under steady-state conditions, more than 90% of the atoms can be prepared into the absolute atomic ground state, which provides favorable conditions for the investigation of sympathetic cooling of ions in a hybrid atom–ion trap.

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Notes

  1. Wineland and Dehmelt independently proposed the same idea [2].

  2. This extinction ratio was measured outside the vacuum chamber. The actual ratio might be reduced due to reflections from the wires of the ion trap.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported in part by the Heidelberg Center for Quantum Dynamics and the BMBF under contract number 05P12VHFA6. B.H. acknowledges support by HGSHire.

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Author notes

  1. Julian Glässel

    Present address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Ny Munkegade 120, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physikalisches Institut, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 226, 69120, Heidelberg, Germany

    Bastian Höltkemeier, Julian Glässel, Henry López-Carrera & Matthias Weidemüller

  2. Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and Department of Modern Physics, CAS Center for Excellence and Synergetic Innovation Center in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, Anhui, China

    Matthias Weidemüller

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  1. Bastian Höltkemeier
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Correspondence to Matthias Weidemüller.

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This article is part of the topical collection “Enlightening the World with the Laser” - Honoring T. W. Hänsch guest edited by Tilman Esslinger, Nathalie Picqué, and Thomas Udem.

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Höltkemeier, B., Glässel, J., López-Carrera, H. et al. A dense gas of laser-cooled atoms for hybrid atom–ion trapping. Appl. Phys. B 123, 51 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-016-6624-4

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