Optimization of a crossed optical dipole trap for loading and confining laser-cooled atoms

Abstract

We theoretically study the loading of cold atoms into a crossed optical dipole trap (ODT). We compared the loading efficiency dependent on the trap geometry for Nd:YAG and CO2 laser ODTs. By crossing two Nd:YAG laser beams at a small angle, such as 10°, we can shape the geometry of the effective potential in the intersection region and achieve comparable performance to that of a single-beam CO2 laser ODT. We also calculate the optimal experimental parameters for these two laser wavelengths for laser power per beam ranging from 5 W to 100 W. We further experimentally studied the loading of laser-cooled Rb87 atoms into a small-angle crossed Nd:YAG ODT and found that the experimental data agreed with the simulation results.