Sodium Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensates
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SODIUM SPINOR BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATES: ALL-OPTICAL PRODUCTION AND SPIN DYNAMICS By JIEJIANG BachelorofScienceinOpticalInformationScience UniversityofShanghaiforScienceandTechnology Shanghai,China 2009 SubmittedtotheFacultyofthe GraduateCollegeof OklahomaStateUniversity inpartialfulfillmentof therequirementsfor theDegreeof DOCTOROFPHILOSOPHY December,2015 COPYRIGHT c By JIE JIANG December, 2015 SODIUM SPINOR BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATES: ALL-OPTICAL PRODUCTION AND SPIN DYNAMICS Dissertation Approved: Dr. Yingmei Liu Dissertation Advisor Dr. Albert T. Rosenberger Dr. Gil Summy Dr. Weili Zhang iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to first express my sincere gratitude to my thesis advisor Dr. Yingmei Liu, who introduced ultracold quantum gases to me and guided me throughout my PhD study. I am greatly impressed by her profound knowledge, persistent enthusiasm and love in BEC research. It has been a truly rewarding and privilege experience to perform my PhD study under her guidance. I also want to thank my committee members, Dr. Albert Rosenberger, Dr. Gil Summy, and Dr. Weili Zhang for their advice and support during my PhD study. I thank Dr. Rosenberger for the knowledge in lasers and laser spectroscopy I learnt from him. I thank Dr. Summy for his support in the department and the academic exchange with his lab. Dr. Zhang offered me a unique opportunity to perform microfabrication in a cleanroom, which greatly extended my research experience. During my more than six years study at OSU, I had opportunities to work with many wonderful people and the team members in Liu’s lab have been providing endless help for me which is important to my work. Many thanks extend to my current colleagues Lichao Zhao, Tao Tang, Zihe Chen, and Micah Webb as well as our former members Zongkai Tian, Jared Austin, and Alex Behlen. Moreover, I would like to thank our best staffs in the department of physics. Susan is super nice and always helps students to deal with different problems. Tamra has helped us a lot on ordering various lab equipments. I also want to thank Sandra who just relocated to registration office, Alisha, Melissa, and Charles. I also want to express my appreciation to Mike who just retired, Larry, and Randy in machine shop. They have helped us to build many custom designed parts espe- iv cially the Zeeman slower, which are essential components in our experimental system. Furthermore, I would like to thank our senior technician Warren. Warren was the first person came into my mind if we needed something or help in the lab. I also want to say thank you to him for allocating a spot to me in PS354 in my first year study. Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my father Zhonghua Jiang and my mother Limei Wu for their endless love and support. Finally I want to thank my beloved Yingxia Hu, who has been with me all the time, shined my life with her optimism and smile, and encouraged me during every dark moment I encountered. I dedicate this thesis to them. v ĐŬŶŽǁůĞĚŐŵĞŶƚƐƌĞĨůĞĐƚƚŚĞǀŝĞǁƐŽĨƚŚĞĂƵƚŚŽƌĂŶĚĂƌĞŶŽƚĞŶĚŽƌƐĞĚďLJĐŽŵŵŝƚƚĞĞ ŵĞŵďĞƌƐŽƌKŬůĂŚŽŵĂ^ƚĂƚĞhŶŝǀĞƌƐŝƚLJ͘ Name: JIE JIANG Date of Degree: DECEMBER, 2015 Title of Study: SODIUM SPINOR BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATES: ALL- OPTICAL PRODUCTION AND SPIN DYNAMICS Major Field: PHOTONICS Abstract: In this thesis, I present a novel experimental system and an optimal ex- perimental scheme for an all-optical production of a sodium spinor Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). With this scheme, I demonstrate that the number of atoms in a pure BEC can be greatly boosted by a factor of 5 over some widely used schemes in a simple single-beam or crossed-beam optical trap. Our scheme avoids technical challenges associated with some all-optical BEC methods and may be applicable to other optically trappable atomic species. I also discuss an upper limit for evaporative cooling efficiency in all-optical BEC approaches, and a good agreement between our theoretical model and experimental data. In addition, we study the spin-mixing dynamics and phase diagrams of spinor BECs immersed in a microwave dressing field. Due to the interplay of spin-dependent interactions and the quadratic Zeeman energy induced by the microwave field, two types of quantum phase transitions are observed in our F =1 antiferromagnetic sodium spinor BEC system. We also demonstrate that many previously unexplored regions in the phase diagram of spinor condensates can be investigated by adiabatically tuning the microwave field across one of the observed quantum phase transitions. This method overcomes two major experimental challenges associated with some widely used methods, and is applicable to other atomic species. Agreements between our data and the mean-field theory for spinor Bose gases are also discussed. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page 1INTRODUCTION 1 1.1WhatisaBose-Einsteincondensate?.................. 1 1.1.1 ExperimentalrealizationofBose-Einsteincondensates..... 2 1.1.2 Abriefreviewofexperimentswithultracoldatoms...... 3 1.2Spinorcondensates............................ 5 1.3Atomicpropertiesofsodiumatoms................... 8 1.4Thesisoutline............................... 10 2 Laser cooling and trapping 12 2.1Dopplercooling.............................. 12 2.2Dopplerandsub-Dopplercoolinglimit................. 13 2.3Magneto-opticaltrap(MOT)...................... 14 2.4Opticaldipoletrap(ODT)........................ 16 2.5Evaporativecooling............................ 19 3 The vacuum system 21 3.1Overviewofourvacuumsystem..................... 21 3.2Thesodiumovenchamber........................ 23 3.3UHVchambers.............................. 24 3.4 Procedures for cleaning, baking, and installing vacuum parts ..... 26 3.5Sodiumchange.............................. 28 vii 4 A refrigerator: Experimental setups for laser-cooled atoms 31 4.1Opticallayout............................... 31 4.2Double-passAOM............................. 34 4.3Polarizationoflaserbeams........................ 36 4.4 Frequency stabilization .......................... 38 4.5SpinflipZeemanslower......................... 43 4.63DMOT.................................. 46 4.6.1 MOTsetup............................ 46 4.6.2 MOTalignments......................... 47 4.7Polarizationgradientcooling....................... 48 4.8Absorptionimaging............................ 50 4.8.1 Imagingsystemsetup....................... 50 4.8.2 Imageanalysis........................... 53 4.9Crossedopticaldipoletraps....................... 54 4.9.1 SetupofacrossedODT..................... 55 4.9.2 ODTbeamalignment...................... 58 4.9.3 CalibrationofthewaistofanODTbeam............ 59 4.10Computercontrol............................. 61 5 All-optical production of sodium spinor BECs 63 5.1Efficientlyloadinglaser-cooledatomstoanODT........... 64 5.2OptimizingtheefficiencyofanevaporativecoolinginanODT.... 69 5.3 An optimum scheme to generate sodium Bose-Einstein condensates . 74 5.4Spin-mixingdynamicsinasodiumspinorBEC............. 74 6 Mapping the phase diagram of spinor condensates via adiabatic quantum phase transitions 80 6.1Themean-fieldgroundstatesofspinorBECs.............. 81 viii 6.2 Two experimental sequences to generate equilibrium states in spinor BECs.................................... 82 6.2.1 An old and widely-used method to generate equilibrium states 83 6.2.2 Our new method to generate equilibrium states ........ 83 6.2.3 Comparisonsbetweentheoldandnewmethods........ 84 6.3Adiabaticitycheckofournewmethod................. 86 6.4Mappingthephasediagramofspinorcondensates........... 87 6.5 Feasibility of our new method ...................... 89 7CONCLUSIONS 93 7.1Finalremarks............................... 93 7.2Futuredirection.............................. 94 REFERENCES 96 A Simple and efficient all-optical production of spinor condensates 111 B Dynamics in spinor condensates tuned by a microwave dressing field117 C Mapping the phase diagram of spinor condensates via adiabatic quantum phase transitions 123 D Antiferromagnetic Spinor Condensates in a Two-Dimensional Opti- cal Lattice 129 ix LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1.1Somephysicalpropertiesofsodiumatoms................ 8 1.2 Some properties of the sodium D2 linetransitions............ 9 4.1 Laser beam power for slowing beam and each MOT beam after the fiber. 50 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 2.1 Illustration of a MOT along one dimension. Because of the Zeeman effect and σ+ to σ− laser polarization configuration, atoms are driven tothecenterofthetrap.......................... 15 3.1 (a) Schematic of our experimental setup. (b) Actual apparatus in our lab...................................... 22 3.2Isometricviewofthesodiumovenchamber............... 24 3.3 Isometric view of the intermediate chamber and the main chamber. Inset:schematicofthedifferentialpumpingtube(DFT)........ 25 3.4 Vacuum pressure in two chambers before, during, and after the baking. 29 3.5Setupforthesodiummetalchange.................... 30 4.1 Schematic of various laser beams used in laser cooling and trapping sodiumatoms................................ 33 4.2 Optical layout for generating laser beams of different frequencies. These beams are used to construct a 3D MOT. PBS, M, L, λ/2, λ/4and AOM correspond to a polarizing beamsplitting cube, a mirror, a lens, a half-wave plate, a quarter-wave plate, and an acousto-optic modula- tor,respectively............................... 35 4.3Aphototoshowthedyelaserandopticalsetupinourlab....... 36 4.4Schematicofadouble-passAOMsetup................. 37 4.5 Schematic to set up the σ+ or σ− polarizedlaserbeam......... 38 4.6Schematicofoursaturatedabsorptionspectroscopy..........