2010/11/29 by S Händel, S. Händel, T. P. Wiles +9 · 6 citations
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Frequency and Time Standards #Algorithm #Atom (system on chip) #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Atomic physics #Bioinformatics #Chemistry #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Computer science #Degeneracy (biology) #Isotope #Laser #Magnetic field #Magnetic trap #Physics #Quantum #Quantum mechanics #Ultracold atom #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.83.053633
published in Physical Review A 83(5) (American Physical Society) · 18 pages, 7 figures; http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.83.053633
arxiv created 2010/11/29 · openalex publication_date 2011/05/27 · arxiv updated 2011/09/27 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We report the magnetic merging of ultracold atomic gases of 85Rb and 87Rb by the controlled overlap of two initially spatially separated magnetic traps. We present a detailed analysis of the combined magnetic-field potential as the two traps are brought together that predicts a clear optimum trajectory for the merging. We verify this prediction experimentally using 85Rb and find that the final atom number in the merged trap is maximized with minimal heating by following the predicted optimum trajectory. Using the magnetic-merging approach allows us to create variable-ratio isotopic Rb mixtures with a single laser-cooling setup by simply storing one isotope in a magnetic trap before jumping the laser frequencies to the transitions necessary to laser cool the second isotope.