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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 64: Poster – Ultra-cold atoms, ions and BEC (joint session A/Q)

Q 64.38: Poster

Donnerstag, 5. März 2026, 17:00–19:00, Philo 1. OG

Enhanced Atom Capture via Multi-Frequency Magneto-Optical Trapping — •Benjamin Hopton, Nathan Cooper, and Lucia Hackermuller — School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, UK

Magneto-optical traps are central to cold-atom quantum technologies and precision tests of fundamental physics, where both sensitivity and bandwidth scale strongly with atom number and loading rate. We demonstrate that employing multiple, closely spaced optical frequency components in the cooling light of a 87Rb magneto-optical trap increases both the steady-state atom number and the loading rate by more than a factor of three compared to a conventional single-frequency implementation using the same apparatus. Subsequently, we capture up to 2.3(1) × 10¹⁰ atoms with a loading rate of up to 1.5(2) × 10¹¹ atoms/s—the highest loading rate currently recorded for this species. Numerical simulations reproduce the observed trends and predict substantially larger gains for increased trap sizes, as well as for two-dimensional magneto-optical traps and linear slowers. By re-examining earlier studies of multi-frequency atom capture in the context of modern experimental hardware and emerging applications, we show that previously identified limitations can be avoided and establish multi-frequency cooling as a practical and scalable route to high-flux cold-atom sources. These results have immediate applications in portable atom-based quantum sensing, where higher bandwidth and precision can be achieved without forgoing compactability, and in atom-interferometric tests of fundamental physics, which benefit from access to larger-mass quantum systems.

Keywords: Multi-frequency; Magneto-Optical Trap