Atom Optics Theory And Experimental Research

As the consequences of the rapid progress of experimental techniques, especially in the range of micro-technologies and laser cooling technologies, atom optics offers the possibility of several advantages over existing techniques. Progress of atom optics is owing to the advantages of atoms. Atomic beams are relatively easy to produce, and atoms have a complex internal structure that allows precision measurement of the atomic velocity or position using spectroscopic techniques. Using laser cooling, we can prepare well-collimated, intense atomic beams with well-defined velocity. Based on the experimental progress of cold atom physics, in particular of Bose-Einstein Condensation, there are recently many exciting successes in the fast-developing research field of atom optics.The whole thesis consists of three parts: (1) General status of atom optics has been summarized, besides of the base experimental methods and the research focuses in this region. (2) Theoretical study of atomic optics: through numerical simulation, we have analyzed the dynamics of atomic beam focusing in a laser standing wave. (3) Experimental study of atomic optics: using the current carrying wire structures, we have demonstrated loading ⁸⁵Rb cold atoms into the current carrying wire guide. In the part of theoretical study, we have provided a new framework that facilitates the thinking about the experiments of atom lithography. In addition, we have proposed several novel feasible experimental schemes, such as using double light mask and cold atomic source to obtain better feature size of atomic deposition, and using the diffraction effect of atomic beam passing through laser standing wave fields to realize arbitrary images. In the part of experimental study, the procedures of constructing the experimental systems have been introduced in detail. In addition, we have presented some experimental outcomes obtained from this system. In the process of experiments, we have detected the position of the magnetic zeros and the images of atomic beam by observing the fluorescence signals. And, we have detected a doublet-trap structure in the process of performing MOT experiments. Furthermore, using the current carrying wire guide, we have fulfilled primarily that loading cold atoms into it.The central work of the thesis is the experimental system constructed for atom optics study. We have obtained some initial experimental outcome from this system, which will certainly contribute to our future experimental studying on the integrated atom optics: atom chips.