Eur. Phys. J. D 61, 437-442 (2011)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2010-10261-5

Loading a dipole trap from an atomic reservoir

¹ Laboratoire Aimé Cotton, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Bât. 505, 91405 Orsay, France
² Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique, CNRS, Université Paris-Sud, Institut d'Optique Graduate School, RD 128, 91127 Palaiseau Cedex, France
³ Institute of Solid State Physics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, 72 Tzarigradsko Chaussee Blvd., 1784 Sofia, Bulgaria

Corresponding author: ^a sofdim@iesl.forth.gr

Received: 7 May 2010
Revised: 13 September 2010
Published online: 21 January 2011

Abstract

Loading a dipole trap from an atomic reservoir is considered to be an efficient method for the preparation of trapped atoms at high density, which has led to notable results for the case of Rb and Cr atoms. It was also theoretically predicted to provide efficient loading also in the cesium case. In this article, we report on the experimental study of the loading of a single-arm and of a crossed dipole trap for cesium atoms. This study is performed by comparing several types of reservoirs from which the atoms are loaded: a magnetic trap, a Dark-SPOT and a compressed MOT. In all cases the number of atoms is found to decrease shortly after the beginning of the loading process. A few possible phenomena leading to such a behavior, namely the limited reservoir lifetime and/or a possible heating in the reservoir, are discussed. The loading dynamics is fitted by a phenomenological rate equation. From an experimental point of view, the reservoir loading method can be considered efficient in terms of number of transferred atoms for the single arm dipole trap. On the contrary, it does not seem to provide, for the case of cesium atoms in a crossed dipole trap, an attractive alternative in comparison with existing loading methods such as Raman sideband cooling.