Single-Beam Magneto-Optical Trap in Back-to-Back Pyramidal and Conical Mirrors

TL;DR

This paper introduces innovative single-beam magneto-optical traps using back-to-back pyramidal and conical mirrors, enabling compact, scalable cold-atom sensors with simplified setups.

Contribution

It presents the design and demonstration of back-to-back mirror-based single-beam MOTs, enhancing accessibility and enabling multiple MOT configurations.

Findings

Loaded 10 million rubidium-87 atoms in a conical mirror MOT.

Achieved atom cooling to 7 μK using polarization gradients.

Demonstrated potential for scalable, compact cold-atom sensors.

Abstract

A three-dimensional magneto-optical trap (MOT), as an efficient method of producing cold atoms from room-temperature atomic vapor, has been widely used to develop atomic sensors. Various compact MOTs using a single laser beam have been reported, simplifying apparatuses and leading to miniaturized devices. Here, we propose single-beam MOTs based on back-to-back pyramidal and conical mirrors. In such back-to-back mirrors, a MOT trapping volume is formed by an incident laser beam, a retroreflected beam, and multiple reflections from the mirror surfaces. We present the design of back-to-back mirrors and a series of compact MOT configurations, with the potential of increasing access to the MOT and simultaneously creating multiple MOTs. We demonstrate a MOT in a back-to-back conical mirror, loading 10 million rubidium-87 atoms from background vapor and cooling the atoms to 7 {\mu}K using polarization gradients. Single-beam MOTs based on back-to-back mirrors will contribute to building compact and scalable cold-atom-based sensors.