Effective trapping of cold atoms using dipole and radiative forces in an optical trap

Taro Mashimo, Masashi Abe, and Satoshi Tojo

We report on the stable effective trapping of cold rubidium atoms by a method for a single optical trap in the near-optical resonant regime. An optical trap with the near-optical resonance condition consists of not only the dipole but also the radiative forces, while a trap using a far-off resonance dominates only the dipole force. We measure the spatial behaviors of the center-of-mass positions and the loading efficiencies of the trapped atoms in the near-optical resonant trap, by changing the detuning over the range of −0.373 to −2.23 THz from the D2 resonance. The time dependence of the spatial behavior in the trap indicates that the suitable positions for stably holding atoms are altered because the equilibrium condition between the optical dipole and the radiative forces depends on the trap laser detuning. The stable position, which is not a primary position of focus in the Gaussian beam optics, depends only on the laser detuning due to the change in the radiative force, while it is independent of the change in the laser intensity, which results in a balance between the radiative and dipole forces.

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