Ring trap for ultracold atoms

Olivier Morizot (1) , Yves Colombe (1) , Vincent Lorent (1) , Hélène Perrin (2) , Barry M. Garraway (3)

1 LPL - Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers
2 Condensat de Bose-Einstein
3 DPA - Department of Physics and Astronomy [Brighton]

We propose a new kind of toroidal trap, designed for ultracold atoms. It relies on a combination of a magnetic trap for rf-dressed atoms, which creates a bubble-like trap, and a standing wave of light. This new trap is well suited for investigating questions of low dimensionality in a ring potential. We study the trap characteristics for a set of experimentally accessible parameters. A loading procedure from a conventional magnetic trap is also proposed. The flexible nature of this new ring trap, including an adjustable radius and adjustable transverse oscillation frequencies, will allow the study of superfluidity in variable geometries and dimensionalities.

Domaines: Physique Atomique [physics.atom-ph]

Olivier Morizot, Yves Colombe, Vincent Lorent, Hélène Perrin, Barry M. Garraway. Ring trap for ultracold atoms. Physical Review A : Atomic, molecular, and optical physics [1990-2015], 2006, 74, pp.023617. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevA.74.023617⟩. ⟨hal-00015124v2⟩