A magneto-optical trap with millimeter ball lenses

TL;DR

This paper introduces a compact magneto-optical trap design using millimeter ball lenses within a small metal cube, achieving high atom numbers with low laser power and potential for miniaturized quantum devices.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel MOT design with millimeter ball lenses that enables miniaturization and reduces laser power requirements compared to traditional setups.

Findings

Trapped approximately 4.2×10^5 Rb atoms.

Achieved a density of 3.2×10^9 atoms/cm^3.

Loading time of 1.3 seconds.

Abstract

We present a magneto-optical trap (MOT) design based on millimeter ball lenses, contained within a metal cube of 0.75$^{\prime \prime}$ side length. We present evidence of trapping approximately $4.2\times 10^5$ of $^{85}$Rb atoms with a number density of $3.2\times 10^9$ atoms/cm$^{3}$ and a loading time of 1.3 s. Measurement and a kinetic laser-cooling model are used to characterize the atom trap design. The design provides several advantages over other types of MOTs: the laser power requirement is low, the small lens and cube sizes allow for miniaturization of MOT applications, and the lack of large-diameter optical beam pathways prevents external blackbody radiation from entering the trapping region.