Cold atoms and cesium fountains at NRC

Author

Boulanger, J.-S. ; Gagné, M. -C ; Douglas, R.J.

Author_Institution

Inst. for Nat. Meas. Stand., Nat. Res. Council of Canada, Ottawa, Ont., Canada

fYear

1996

fDate

5-7 Jun 1996

Firstpage

1089

Lastpage

1096

Abstract

We present a progress report on laser-cooled cesium atoms at NRC, work which was started a few years ago in order to realize a cesium fountain frequency standard. We selected an acceleration with two-dimensional moving molasses, which can increase both the force and the interaction time by a factor of √2 over the more common 1-D molasses scheme. This configuration also allows for trapping and cooling of atoms while previously launched atoms are still moving in the clock section of the system. We report measurements on the number of atoms, temperature, friction coefficient and spring constant of our magneto-optical trap and 1-D molasses for various conditions

Keywords

atomic clocks; beam handling techniques; caesium; frequency measurement; magneto-optical devices; measurement standards; particle traps; radiation pressure; 1-D molasses; Cs; NRC; acceleration; cesium fountains; cold atoms; cooling; force; frequency standard; friction coefficient; interaction time; laser-cooled Cs atoms; magneto-optical trap; spring constant; temperature; trapping; two-dimensional moving molasses; Acceleration; Atom lasers; Atomic beams; Atomic measurements; Clocks; Cooling; Frequency; Friction; Springs; Temperature;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Frequency Control Symposium, 1996. 50th., Proceedings of the 1996 IEEE International.

Conference_Location

Honolulu, HI

Print_ISBN

0-7803-3309-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/FREQ.1996.560299

Filename

560299