A versatile laser system for experiments with cold atomic gases

TL;DR

This paper presents a compact laser system that efficiently generates all necessary optical frequencies for cooling, trapping, and detecting ultracold rubidium-87 atoms using a single laser source and an innovative EOM feedback loop.

Contribution

It introduces a novel fiber-coupled EOM feedback loop scheme that overcomes power limitations, simplifying the setup for ultracold atom experiments.

Findings

Successfully created a high atom number MOT

Demonstrated effective repump light generation at 6.5 GHz offset

System is simple, compact, and versatile

Abstract

We describe a simple and compact architecture for generating all optical frequencies required for the laser cooling, state preparation and detection of atoms in an ultracold rubidium-87 experiment from a single 780 nm laser source. In particular, repump light $\sim$ 6.5 GHz away from the cooling transition is generated by using a high-bandwidth fiber-coupled eletro-optical modulator (EOM) in a feedback loop configuration. The looped repump light generation scheme solves the problem of the limited power handling capabilities characteristics of fiber EOMs. We demonstrate the functionality of the system by creating a high atom number magneto-optical trap (MOT)