Towards a measurement of the Debye length in very large Magneto-Optical traps

TL;DR

This paper explores experimental methods to measure the Debye length in large Magneto-Optical Traps, indicating it may be larger than previously thought, which could impact understanding of atomic cloud correlations.

Contribution

It introduces new experimental approaches and analyses to measure the Debye length in large Magneto-Optical Traps, combining analytical, numerical, and experimental studies.

Findings

Debye length in large MOTs may be significantly larger than expected

Proposed methods effectively characterize spatial correlations

Analytical and numerical results support experimental feasibility

Abstract

We propose different experimental methods to measure the analog of the Debye length in a very large Magneto-Optical Trap, which should characterize the spatial correlations in the atomic cloud. An analytical, numerical and experimental study of the response of the atomic cloud to an external modulation potential suggests that this Debye length, if it exists, is significantly larger than what was expected.