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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 30: Poster: Photonics, laser development and applications, ultrashort laser pulses, quantum effects

Q 30.40: Poster

Dienstag, 18. März 2014, 16:30–18:30, Spree-Palais

Construction and characterization of an amplified diode laser system for cold atom experiments — •Giulia Faraoni, Valentin Ivannikov, Silva Mezinska, Shannon Whitlock, and Matthias Weidemüller — Physikalisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 226, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany

The necessity for high power laser beams in experiments with cold atoms requires the development of optical systems which allow the power amplification of laser light, with controlled optical properties (frequency, polarization, direction of the beam). Tapered Amplifier (TA) antireflection-coated laser diodes can fulfill this requirement when seeded by a suitable master oscillator. We have built a home-made TA diode system, based on the design by the Walraven group (University of Amsterdam) [1] to be used at wavelengths of 767 nm and 780 nm for experiments with ultracold atoms. The TAs are seeded by a continuous-wave external cavity diode laser (CW-ECDL) locked to an atomic spectroscopy resonance. The amplified light will be used for cooling and trapping Potassium or Rubidium atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). We present the design and construction of our amplified laser system as well as a detailed characterization of its performance including power output, tunability and stability. Our lasers will be used in both Potassium and Rubidium experiments which aim at the study of strongly interacting Rydberg states in dense atomic gases.

[1] Paul Cleary, University of Amsterdam, PhD thesis (2012).