Phase diagram of spatiotemporal instabilities in a large magneto-optical trap

TL;DR

This paper investigates the complex spatiotemporal instabilities in large cold atom clouds within magneto-optical traps, revealing various dynamical regimes through detailed simulations and experimental analysis.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed phase diagram of instabilities in magneto-optical traps, linking experimental observations with three-dimensional nonlinear simulations.

Findings

Identification of different dynamical regimes of instabilities.

Correlation between experimental data and simulation results.

Insights into the nonlinear dynamics of cold atom clouds.

Abstract

Large clouds of cold atoms prepared in a magneto-optical trap are known to present spatiotemporal instabilities when the frequency of the trapping lasers is brought close to the atomic resonance. This system bears similarities with trapped plasmas where the role of the Coulomb interaction is played by the exchange of scattered photons, and astrophysical objects such as stars whose size is dependent on radiative forces. We present in this paper a study of the phase-space of such instabilities, and reveal different dynamical regimes. Three dimensional simulations of the highly nonlinear atomic dynamics permit a detailed analysis of the experimental observations.