Characterization of a forced damped harmonic oscillator in a magneto-optical trap of 133Cs atoms

Abstract

We report the characterization of the forced damped harmonic oscillations of 133Cs atoms in a magneto-optical trap, which was realized by modulating the intensity of the lasers counterpropagating along the anti-Helmholtz coil axis. Trap parameters such as trap frequency, damping coefficient, and magnitude of the driving force were determined from the resonant vibrational amplitude of the 133Cs atomic cloud depending on the modulation frequency of the modulated laser intensity. The experimental results were compared with the theoretical ones based on the simple two-level and multi-level atom models, considering all possible transition lines used to trap the 133Cs atom, and were found to be consistent with their theoretical counterparts. Furthermore, we theoretically examined the effect of the repumping laser on trap parameters.