Implementation of a stable, high-power optical lattice for quantum gas microscopy

TL;DR

This paper presents a stable, high-power 1064 nm laser system for optical lattices in quantum gas microscopy, achieving exceptional positional stability over hours and months.

Contribution

It introduces a novel laser system with advanced stabilization techniques for creating highly stable optical lattices in ultracold quantum gas experiments.

Findings

Lattice site stability below lattice spacing over hours

Long-term lattice spacing stability of 0.5% over six months

Stable harmonic trap position within one lattice spacing

Abstract

We describe the design and implementation of a stable high-power 1064 nm laser system to generate optical lattices for experiments with ultracold quantum gases. The system is based on a low-noise laser amplified by an array of four heavily modified, high-power fiber amplifiers. The beam intensity is stabilized and controlled with a nonlinear feedback loop. Using real-time monitoring of the resulting optical lattice, we find the stability of the lattice site positions to be well below the lattice spacing over the course of hours. The position of the harmonic trap produced by the Gaussian envelope of the lattice beams is stable to about one lattice spacing and the long-term (six-month) relative RMS stability of the lattice spacing itself is 0.5%.