Atom number calibration in absorption imaging at very small atom numbers

• Authors: Gregory Konstantinidis , Melina Pappa , Gustav Wikström , Paul Condylis , Daniel Sahagun , Mark Baker , Olivier Morizot , Wolf Klitzing
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Cold atom experiments often use images of the atom clouds as their exclusive source of experimental information. The most commonly used technique is absorption imaging, which provides accurate information about the shapes of the atom clouds, but requires care when seeking the absolute atom number for small atom samples. In this paper, we present an independent, absolute calibration of the atom numbers. We directly compare the atom number detected using dark-ground imaging to the one observed by fluorescence imaging of the same atoms in a magneto-optical trap. We normalise the signal using single-atom resolved fluorescence imaging. In order to be able to image the absorption of the very low atom numbers involved, we use diffractive dark-ground imaging as a novel, ultra-sensitive method of in situ imaging for untrapped atom clouds down to only 100 atoms. We demonstrate that the Doppler shift due to the acceleration of the atoms by the probe beam has to be taken into account when measuring the atom-number.

Keywords

EN

ultra-cold atoms; magneto optic trap; dark-ground imaging; absorption imaging

• Publisher: De Gruyter Open
• Journal: Open Physics
• Year: 2012
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 1054-1058

Dates

published

1 - 10 - 2012

online

21 - 11 - 2012

Contributors

author

Gregory Konstantinidis

author

Melina Pappa

author

Gustav Wikström

• IESL-FORTH, Vassilika Vouton, P.O. Box 1527, GR-71110, Heraklion, Greece

author

Paul Condylis

author

Daniel Sahagun

author

Mark Baker

author

Olivier Morizot

author

Wolf Klitzing

• IESL-FORTH, Vassilika Vouton, P.O. Box 1527, GR-71110, Heraklion, Greece

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Identifiers

DOI

10.2478/s11534-012-0108-x