H. F. Powell | Searcharxiv

arXiv2005

Integrated optical components on atom chips

We report on the integration of small-scale optical components into silicon wafers for use in atom chips. We present an on-chip fibre-optic atom detection scheme that can probe clouds with small atom numbers. The fibres can also be used to generate microscopic dipole traps. We describe our most recent results with optical microcavities and show that single-atom detection can be realised on an atom chip. The key components have been fabricated by etching directly into the atom chip silicon substrate.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2003

Improvement of Laser Cooling of Ions in a Penning Trap by use of the Axialisation Technique

We report a study of the axialisation and laser cooling of single ions and small clouds of ions in a Penning trap. A weak radiofrequency signal applied to a segmented ring electrode couples the magnetron motion to the cyclotron motion, which results in improved laser cooling of the magnetron motion. This allows us to approach the trapping conditions of a Paul trap, but without any micromotion. Using an ICCD camera we show that the motion of a single ion can be confined to dimensions of the order of 10 $μ$m. We have measured increased magnetron cooling rates using an rf-photon correlation technique. For certain laser cooling conditions, the magnetron motion of the centre of mass of the cloud grows and stabilises at a large value. This results in the ions orbiting the centre of the trap together in a small cloud, as confirmed by photon-photon correlation measurements.

quant-ph↗