1209.0887 (M. Miranda et al.)

All-optical transport and compression of ytterbium atoms into the
surface of a solid immersion lens    [PDF]

M. Miranda, A. Nakamoto, Y. Okuyama, A. Noguchi, M. Ueda, M. Kozuma

We present an all-optical method to load 174Yb atoms into a single layer of an optical trap near the surface of a solid immersion lens which improves the numerical aperture of a microscope system. Atoms are transported to a region 20 um below the surface using a system comprised by three optical dipole traps. The "optical accordion" technique is used to create a condensate and compress the atoms to a width of 120 nm and a distance of 1.8 um away from the surface. Moreover, we are able to verify that after compression the condensate behaves as a two-dimensional quantum gas.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1209.0887