M.SHIDDIQ, C.E.LUCAS, M.D.HAVEY, C.I.SUKENIK
Department of Physics, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA
R.R.JONES
Department of Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
C.Y.PARK, J.Y.KIM, and D.CHO
Department of Physics, Korea University, Seoul 136-713, Korea
We have studied the loading characteristics of optical dipole force traps in which we make a comparative study of the relative loading efficiency of pulsed vs. continuous wave operation of the trap. Our trap is produced by a Nd:YAG laser which can operate in either a contnuous-wave (cw) or mode-locked, pulsed mode. In particular, we have studied how the transfer of ultra-cold rubidium atoms from a magneto-optical trap (MOT)to the dipole trap depends on loading time, MOT laser detuning, and hyperfine repumper intensity. We have also investigated the confinement time of atoms in the trap for different average trap powers. We find that the loading and confinement times for the two types of traps are nearly the same, however, the loading dependence on MOT detuning is very different for cw and pulsed traps.
Status: Published Journal of the Korean Physical Society 47, 207 (2005).