Specialized fiber collimators
Cooling and trapping atoms using specially developed fiber collimators
by Anja Krischke, Michael Schulz, Christian Knothe and Ulrich Oechsner
The general interest in the investigation of ultra-cold atoms and their distinct features has been constantly growing over the last decades.
Whereas in the beginning the process of cooling down presented the major challenge, now the extraordinary features of these ultra-cold systems - for example Bose-Einstein- Condensation - motivate researchers world-wide to look closer than ever.
Using fiber-optic equipment has been proven to be a powerful tool for these experiments that profit from the increased stability and convenience. The large variety of requirements e.g. on the collimation for the different quantum optics experiments is resembled in the number of specially designed fiber collimators.
These include fiber collimators with integrated quarter-wave plate for the direct generation of circularly polarized light or anamorphic optics to produce elliptical beams. [more]