Bulletin of the American Physical Society
Annual Meeting of the Four Corners Section of the APS
Volume 59, Number 11
Friday–Saturday, October 17–18, 2014; Orem, Utah
Session I6: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics II |
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Chair: Jorge Rocca, Colorado State University Room: Science Building 280 |
Saturday, October 18, 2014 10:15AM - 10:39AM |
I6.00001: Ion Interfereometry Dallin Durfee An interferometer is a device which exploits wave interference to make very precise measurements. Because everything exhibits quantum wave properties, in addition to things that we typically think of as waves (such as light and sound) we can, in theory, interfere. . . anything. In our lab we are constructing a device which will use the interference of strontium ions to detect changes in electric and magnetic fields with unprecedented sensitivity. One application of this device will be the search for violations of Coulombs law and extremely rigorous tests of the accepted theory of electromagnetism. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 18, 2014 10:39AM - 10:51AM |
I6.00002: Constructing a Faraday Filter for use in quantum entanglement by four-wave mixing Donna Taylor, Irina Novikova In order to separate entangled and non-entangled photon streams, we have constructed two Faraday rotation filters by placing a vapor cell between two crossed polarizers. One filter had a natural abundance Rubidium cell and the other had a Rubidium-87 cell. Current run through a solenoid around the vapor cell induces a magnetic field, which causes the two components to propagate at slightly different speeds. This introduces a phase shift that splits the components of the beam and rotates the orientation of the linear polarization. The optical frequency of light transmitted through the filter can then be adjusted by controlling the current through the solenoid around the cell. This control may be fine-tuned well enough for use in high precision applications such as four-wave mixing to produce quantum entanglement. We measured 360 degrees of rotation of polarization with a magnetic field of 26G. We also studied the quantum noise of the optical field transmitted through the filter. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 18, 2014 10:51AM - 11:03AM |
I6.00003: Nonlinear optical magnetometry with accessible in situ optical squeezing Nils Otterstrom, Raphael Pooser, Benjamin Lawrie We demonstrate compact and accessible squeezed-light magnetometry by means of the four-wave mixing process in a single hot rubidium vapor cell. The presence of a strong pump field and a weak, red-shifted probe field in the rubidium vapor coherently generates a two mode relative intensity squeezed state. The intrinsic strong coherence and probe detuning of the four wave mixing process allow the probe field to experience nonlinear magneto-optical rotation (NMOR) and impart its rotation signal on the blue-shifted conjugate field. This framework enables 4.7 dB of quantum noise reduction while simultaneously adding the NMOR signals of the probe and conjugate fields. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 18, 2014 11:03AM - 11:15AM |
I6.00004: SelecTive Optical Pumping (STOP) Cooling Jonathan Gilbert, Jacob Roberts A novel cooling technique for ultracold gases will be presented. This technique has relatively few requirements for particular properties of the ultracold gas and thus should be widely applicable. This technique produces predicted cooling rates on the order of 100 microKelvin/s without requiring the loss of atoms. A detailed description of how the cooling technique works will be presented, along with specific predictions for the cooling of an ultracold gas of $^{87}$Rb confined in an optical trap. Recent experimental efforts have focused on producing a more optimal set of optical trap parameters than the first measurements of this technique that were performed in this research group, and the reasons for changing the optical trap parameters will be described. Experimental measurements of STOP cooling will be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 18, 2014 11:15AM - 11:27AM |
I6.00005: Dual Species Magneto Optical Trap for the Study of Ultracold Plasma D. Woodbury, S. Bergeson, A. Erikson Ultracold plasmas present a novel method of studying certain strongly coupled systems, including certain high-energy density fusion-class plasmas and astrophysical plasmas. While many of these systems can be difficult to dynamically study in the lab, ultracold plasma with similar values of the strong coupling parameter, $\Gamma$, can mimic important aspects of these systems. In the current study, we are expanding our current experimental setup to create a dual-species magneto-optical trap (MOT) loaded with two compact 2-D MOTs. This setup will allow us to create a mixed calcium and ytterbium plasma and study transport mechanisms between the two species, creating an analogue to electron-ion transport mechanisms that are obscured by widely differing time scales. Considerations motivating the project and preliminary calculations demonstrating the feasibility of the experiment will be presented, along with current progress and challenges in construction of the project. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, October 18, 2014 11:27AM - 11:39AM |
I6.00006: Enhancing PiezoElectric Amplifiers Dallin Smith, McKinley Pugh, Dallin Durfee Experiments in matter-wave interferometry require very stable lasers tuned to specific wavelengths. Piezo actuators are used to stabilize the lasers' wavelengths during the experiments. To drive the piezo actuators high voltage amplifiers must be precisely controlled. I created an upgraded amplifier design that minimizes signal distortion near saturation, enhances performance by protecting against accidental shorting of the signal output, and is less costly to produce. [Preview Abstract] |
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