Experimental and computational analysis of Doppler cooling and the magneto-optic trap.
Abstract
Cold, dense clouds of cesium atoms have been produced in an undergraduate research lab using Doppler cooling and a vapor cell magneto-optic trap (MOT). Measurements of temperature, density, and filling of a MOT will be reported. In conjunction with this experiment, Windows-based software has been developed to simulate laser cooling and trapping. The program graphically depicts the position and velocity of a variable number of atoms in two dimensions as they are cooled and trapped. The algorithm accounts for absorption, spontaneous and stimulated emission, Doppler and Zeeman shifts, and radiation trapping. The user can adjust time step, atom velocity, laser intensity and detuning, and magnetic field gradient. The program can demonstrate optical molasses, a MOT, and a dark MOT. Simulations can be recorded and played back in the same graphical environment, along with movies from the actual experiment. The simulation is a useful educational tool for explaining and investigating Doppler cooling and the magneto-optic trap. The program allows anyone to obtain computational results and compare them with published experimental results. A beta version of <A HREF=http://webphysics.davidson.edu/johnc/welcome.htm>Cool Simulation</A> is downloadable off the World Wide Web.
- Publication:
-
APS April Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- April 1997
- Bibcode:
- 1997APS..APR.D1581C