Monte Carlo simulation of cooling induced by parametric resonance

We demonstrate that the parametric resonance in a magnetic quadrupole trap can be exploited to cool atoms by using Bird's method. In our programme the parametric resonance was realized by anisotropically modulating the trap potential. The modulation frequency dependences of temperature and fraction of the trapped atoms are explored. Furthermore, the temperature after the modulation as functions of the modulation amplitude and the mean elastic collision time are also studied. These results are valuable for the experiment of parametric resonance in a quadrupole trap.

Light-induced evaporative cooling in a magneto-optical trap

This paper presents an experimental demonstration of light-induced evaporative cooling in a magneto-optical trap. An additional laser is used to interact with atoms at the edge of the atomic cloud in the trap. These atoms get an additional force and evaporated away from the trap by both the magnetic field and laser fields. There remaining atoms have lower kinetic energy and thus are cooled. It reports the measurements on the temperature and atomic number after the evaporative cooling with different parameters including the distance between the laser and the centre of the atomic cloud, the detuning, the intensity. The results show that the light-induced evaporative cooling is a way to generate an ultra-cold atom source.

Laser cooling of rubidium atoms from background vapor in diffuse light

In this paper we describe an experiment on laser cooling of Rb-87 atoms directly from a vapor background in diffuse light. Diffuse light is produced in a ceramic integrating sphere by multiple scattering of two laser beams injected through multimode fibers. A probe beam, whose propagation direction is either horizontal or vertical, is used to detect cold atoms. We measured the absorption spectra of the cold atoms by scanning the frequency of the probe beam, and observed both the absorption signal and the time of flight signal after we switched off the cooling light, from which we estimated the temperature and the number of cold atoms. This method is clearly attractive for building a compact cold atom clock.

Rare earth doped beta-diketone complexes as promising high-density optical recording materials for blue optoelectronics

Some kinds of rare earth beta-diketone complexes with blue-violet light absorption edge were synthesized using the ligands of thenoyltrifluoroacctone (HTTA), 2, 2'-dipyridyl (BIPY) and different metal ions (Gd3+, Sm3+ and La3+). Their contents, structures and optoelectronic parameters were monitored by elemental analysis, MS, IR and UV spectra. The solubility of rare earth beta-diketone complexes in 2, 2, 3, 3-tetrafluoro-1-propanol (TFP) and absorption properties of their films in the region 300-800 nm were measured. The influence on the difference of absorption maximum from rare earth beta-diketone complexes to beta-diketone ligand by different metal ions was studied. In addition, the thermal stability of rare earth beta-diketone complexes was also reported. (C) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Rare earth dibenzoylmethane complexes for potential application as high-density recordable optical recording materials

Three kinds of rare earth complexes derived from dibenzoylmethane (DBM) ligand were synthesized by reacting free ligand and different rare earth ions(La (3+), Sm3+ and Gd3+). Their contents and structures were postulated based on elemental analysis, LDI-TOF-MS, FT-IR spectra and UV-Vis spectra. Smooth films on K9 glass substrates were prepared using the spin-coating method. Their solubility in organic solvents, absorption and reflection properties of thin film and thermal stability of these complexes were evaluated. These complexes would be a promising recording material for high-density digital versatile disc-recordable (HD-DVD-R) system. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of alkaline-earth metal composition on spectroscopic properties of Er3+ in fluorophosphate glasses

Optical spectroscopic properties of Er3+-doped alkaline-earth metal modified fluoropho sphate glasses have been investigated experimentally for developing broadband fiber and planar amplifiers. The results show a strong correlation between the alkaline-earth metal content and the spectroscopic parameters such as absorption and emission cross sections, full widths at half-maximum and Judd-Ofelt intensity parameters. It is found that strontium ions could have more influences on the Judd-Ofelt intensity parameters and the absorption and emission cross sections than other alkaline-earth metal ions such as Mg2+, Ca2+, Ba2+. The sample containing 23 mol% strontium fluoride exhibits the maximum emission cross section of 7.58 x 10(-21) cm(2), the broadest full width at half-maximum of 65 nm and the longer lifetime of 8.6 ms among the alkaline-earth metal modified fluorophosphates glasses studied. The Judd-Ofelt intensity parameter Omega(6)s, the emission cross sections and the full widths at half-maximum in the Er3+-doped fluorophosphate glasses studied are larger than in the silicate and phosphate glasses.

Ultrabroad infrared luminescences from Bi-doped alkaline earth metal germanate glasses

We report on ultrabroad infrared (IR) luminescences covering the 1000-1700-nm wavelength region, from Bi-doped 75GeO(2) 20RO-5Al(2)O(3) 1B(2)O(3) (R = Sr, Ca, and Mg) glasses. The full width at half-maximum of the IR luminescences excited at 980 nm increases (315 -> 440 -> 510 nm) with the change of alkaline earth metal (Mg2+ -> Ca2+ -> Sr2+). The fluorescence lifetime of the glass samples is 1725, 157, and 264 mu s when R is Sr, Ca, and Mg, respectively. These materials may be promising candidates for broad-band fiber amplifiers and tunable laser resources.

Effect of alkali and alkaline earth fluoride introduction on thermal stability and structure of fluorophosphate glasses

The thermal stability and structure of RF-RF2-AIF(3)-Al(PO3)(3) fluorophosphate glasses were investigated. Analyses of infrared absorbance spectra and Raman spectra reveal that with increasing number of alkali and alkaline earth fluoride components, the sum of P-O-P bond and O-P-O bond increases and glass network is strengthened. Consequently, the inhibition to nucleation and crystallization processes is improved, which is proved by the increment of thermal stability factors AT and S determined by differential scanning calorimetry. In addition, it was found that LiF has poor ability to form glass in univalent alkali fluorides and MgF2 has comparative strong ability to form glass in bivalent alkaline earth fluorides. (c) 2006 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Effect of various alkaline-earth metal oxides on the broadband infrared luminescence from bismuth-doped silicate glasses

We report on the effect of various alkaline-earth metal oxides on the broadband infrared luminescence covering 1000-1600 nm wavelength region from bismuth-doped silicate glasses. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the infrared luminescence and the fluorescent lifetime is more than 200 nm and 400 mu s, respectively. The fluorescent intensity decreases with increasing basicity of host glasses. Besides the broadband infrared luminescence, luminescence centered at 640 nm was also observed, which should be ascribed to Bi2+ rather than to the familiar Bi3+. We suggest that the infrared luminescence should be assigned to the X-2 (2)Pi (3/2) -> X-1 (2)Pi(1/2) transition of BiO molecules dispersed in the host glasses. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rare-earth-doped silica microchip laser fabricated by sintering nanoporous glass

We report a new method for fabricating rare-earth-doped silica glasses for laser materials obtained by sintering nanoporous silica glasses impregnated with rare-earth-doped ions. The fabricated materials have no residual pores and show good optical and mechanical properties. Good performance from a Nd3+-doped silica microchip laser operating at 1.064 mum is successfully demonstrated, suggesting that the fabricated silica glasses have potential for use as active materials for high-power solid-state lasers. (C) 2005 Optical Society of America.

Raman spectroscopic investigation of pure and ytterbium-doped rare earth silicate crystals

Raman spectroscopy was used to study the molecular structure of a series of selected rare earth (RE) silicate crystals including Y2SiO5 (YSO), LU2SiO5 (LSO), (Lu0.5Y0.5)(2)SiO5 (LYSO) and their ytterbium-doped samples. Raman spectra show resolved bands below 500 cm(-1) region assigned to the modes of SiO4 and oxygen vibrations. Multiple bands indicate the nonequivalence of the RE-O bonds and the lifting of the degeneracy of the RE ion vibration. Low intensity bands below 500 cm(-1) are an indication of impurities. The (SiO4)(4-) tetrahedra are characterized by bands near 200 cm(-1) which show a separation of the components of nu(4) and nu(2), in the 500-700 cm(-1) region which are attributed to the distorting bending vibration and in the 880-1000 cm(-1) region which are attributed to the symmetric and antisymmetric stretching vibrational modes. The majority of the bands in the 300-610 cm(-1) region of Re2SiO5 were found to arise from vibrations involving both Si and RE ions, indicating that there is considerable mixing of Si displacements with Si-O bending modes and RE-0 stretching modes. The Raman spectra of RE silicate crystals were analyzed in terms of the molecular structure of the crystals, which enabled separation of the bands attributed to distinct vibrational units. Copyright (C) 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.