Laser controlled atom source for optical clocks

Kock, Ole; He, Wei; Świerad, Dariusz; Smith, Lyndsie; Hughes, James W.; Bongs, Kai; Singh, Yeshpal

doi:10.1038/srep37321

Cited by 26 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…The amount of corrosion will presumably be limited due to the small amount of Li deposition necessary for LIAD, but lithium corrosion could shorten the lifetime of compact laser-cooled Li devices. To circumvent this potential issue, lithium could be deposited on a glass piece contained within the vacuum system [30] or, possibly, it could be desorbed directly from a pellet of lithium metal [61]. Both of these strategies will be the subject of future experiments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light-induced atomic desorption of lithium

et al. 2018

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We demonstrate loading of a Li magneto-optical trap using light-induced atomic desorption. The magnetooptical trap confines up to approximately 4 × 104 7Li atoms with loading rates up to approximately 4 × 103 atoms per second. We study the Li desorption rate as a function of the desorption wavelength and power. The extracted wavelength threshold for desorption of Li from fused silica is approximately 470 nm. In addition to desorption of lithium, we observe light-induced desorption of background gas molecules. The vacuum pressure increase due to the desorbed background molecules is ≲ 50 % and the vacuum pressure decreases back to its base value with characteristic timescales on the order of seconds when we extinguish the desorption light. By examining both the loading and decay curves of the magneto-optical trap, we are able to disentangle the trap decay rates due to background gases and desorbed lithium. Our results show that light-induced atomic desorption can be a viable Li vapor source for compact devices and sensors.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light-induced atomic desorption of lithium

et al. 2018

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“…Besides using an oven source, it is also possible to use laser ablation of a target sample as a source for neutral atoms 21 – 24 , ions 25 – 29 , and molecules 30 – 32 . Recently, with the aim of simplifying the setups, laser-controlled sources have been developed for cold strontium 33 and ytterbium 18 . In these studies, the targets are oxides of strontium or ytterbium, and the dominant mechanism to release the atoms involves a photochemical process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The advantage of such an approach lies in the rapid reduction of the background vapour pressure once the ablation laser is turned off. Moreover, in contrast to the oxides-based techniques 18 , 33 , the LITA does not rely on specific chemical bonds, and can be implemented in principle to any pure solid state elements. We illustrate the operation of this simple method using strontium-88 atoms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser-induced thermal source for cold atoms

Hsu

Larue

Kwong

et al. 2022

Sci Rep

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We demonstrate a simple and compact approach to laser cool and trap atoms based on laser-induced thermal ablation (LITA) of a pure solid granule. A rapid thermalisation of the granule leads to a fast recovery of the ultra-high vacuum condition required for a long trapping lifetime of the cold gas. We give a proof-of-concept of the technique, performing a magneto-optical trap on the 461 nm $$^1S_0\rightarrow \,^1P_1$$ 1 S 0 → 1 P 1 transition of strontium. We get up to 3.5 million of cold strontium-88 atoms with a trapping lifetime of more than 4 s. The lifetime is limited by the pressure of the strontium-free residual background vapour. We also implement an original configuration of permanent magnets to create the quadruple magnetic field of the magneto-optical trap. The LITA technique can be generalized to other atomic elements such as transition metals and lanthanide atoms, and shows a strong potential for applications in quantum technologies ranging from quantum computing to precision measurements such as outdoor inertial sensing.

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“…Recently, with the aim of simplifying the setups, laser-controlled sources have been developed for cold atoms and ions of strontium 21,22 and ytterbium 18 . In these studies, the laser-ablation targets are oxides of strontium or ytterbium, and the dominant mechanism to release the atoms involves a photochemical process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The advantage of such an approach lies in the rapid reduction of the background vapour pressure once the ablation laser is turned off. Moreover, in contrast to the oxides-based techniques 18,21,22 , the thermal ablation does not rely on specific chemical bonds, and can be implemented in principle to any pure solid state elements. We illustrate the operation of this simple method using strontium atoms.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Laser-induced thermal source for cold atoms

Hsu,

Larue,

Kwong

et al. 2021

Preprint

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We demonstrate a simple and compact approach to laser cool and trap atoms based on laser ablation of a pure solid granule. A rapid thermalisation of the granule leads to a fast recovery of the ultra-high vacuum condition required for a long trapping lifetime of the cold gas. We give a proof-of-concept of the technique, performing a magneto-optical trap on the 461 nm 1 S 0 → 1 P 1 transition of strontium. We get up to 3.5 million of cold strontium-88 atoms with a trapping lifetime of more than 4 s. The lifetime is limited by the pressure of the strontium-free residual background vapour. We also implement an original configuration of permanent magnets to create the quadruple magnetic field of the magneto-optical trap. This laser ablation technique can be generalized to other atomic elements such as transition metals and lanthanide atoms, and shows a strong potential for applications in quantum technologies ranging from quantum computing to precision measurements such as outdoor inertial sensing.

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Laser controlled atom source for optical clocks

Cited by 26 publications

References 23 publications

Light-induced atomic desorption of lithium

Light-induced atomic desorption of lithium

Laser-induced thermal source for cold atoms

Laser-induced thermal source for cold atoms

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