The Graduate Physics Student Organization (GPSA) has organized a 'GPSA talk' by Tanwa Arpornthip (Ph.D. student) on the trapping of atoms with a magneto-optical trap on April 21 at 3:30pm in the Physics Building 204. This will be a semi-technical talk in the field of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, primarily meant for science students and it will be understandable to non-specialists in this field. Here are the details about the talk:

Magneto-optical trap in a vapor cell

Atom traps promise great improvements on a wide range of technologies: Atom interferometry, gravimetry, magnetometry, navigation. Despite orders of magnitude in improvements promised, atom technology has seen limited commercial adoption due to voluminous instrumentation size. We have designed a new type of trap which reduces the apparatus volume by a factor of ten with satisfactory performance. Our design choices and component research will be discussed. We aim to develop a self-contained Rb vapor cell capable of sustaining a magneto-optical trap at a decent background pressure over a long period of time.