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arXiv · 1907.13497

Compensation of gravity on cold atoms by a linear optical potential

Kosuke Shibata·Hidehiko Ikeda·Ryota Suzuki·Takuya Hirano
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Abstract

We demonstrate gravity compensation for an ultracold gas of $^{87}$Rb atoms with a time-averaged optical potential. The position of a far-off-resonance beam is temporally modulated with an acousto-optic deflector to efficiently produce a potential with a linear gradient independent of the atomic magnetic sublevels. We realize compensation of the gravity sag and preparation of a degenerate gas in a trap with weak vertical confinement. Optical gravity compensation will provide the opportunity to perform experiments under microgravity in a laboratory and broaden the scope of cold atom research.

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Kosuke Shibata, Hidehiko Ikeda, Ryota Suzuki, Takuya Hirano. 2019-07-31. Compensation of gravity on cold atoms by a linear optical potential. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevresearch.2.013068

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