Devices for the construction of a cold atom experiment.
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Date
2013
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Abstract
The experimental setup for laser cooling and trapping of 87Rb atoms with
the aid of a Magneto-optical trap (MOT) is discussed. The experiment
has a diverse setup, which includes: a vacuum system in which the cooling
and trapping takes place; a laser system, which provides a velocity depen-
dent force; a magnetic field,which creates a position dependent force for the
atoms; and an imaging system which can be used to determine many of the
properties of the atomic cloud. A polarisation detector is also designed and
constructed, which is used to determine the degree of circular polarisation
of beams in the experiment. Using this polarisation device, the beam can
be circularly polarised to a high degree with an purity of the polarisation of
0.03. A pair of Anti-Helmholtz coils is designed and constructed, these two
coils produce a magnetic field that is zero at the centre and changes linearly
along along all three axes. The magnetic field gradient was measured along
the symmetry axis of the coils. The final magnetic field coil measured a
magnetic field gradient of 16.21 G/cm, 9.98 G/cm and 6.91 G/cm, when
the separation is equal to 0.026 m, 0.655 m and 0.08 m, respectively. An
overview of these systems is presented as well as their performance.
Description
M. Sc. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.
Keywords
Laser cooling., Atoms., Magnetooptics., Atomic structure., Theses -- Physics.