Laguerre-Gaussian Beams as a Dipole Trap for a Bose-Einstein Condensate

Azure Hansen, Andrew Kowalik, Kevin Wright, Nicholas Bigelow

University of Rochester, Cooling & Trapping Group

A Laguerre-Gaussian laser beam is used as an optical trap for a Bose-Einstein condensate. Such beams have a spiral-shaped phase distribution and therefore a characteristic region of undefined phase where the amplitude is necessarily zero; and are created using a blazed computer-generated holographic "forked" phase grating. Due to the dipole force, a blue-detuned beam confines the BEC and a red-detuned beam creates a toroidal BEC. The interaction between Laguerre-Gaussian beams and the BEC is intrinsically interesting and will be a great tool for future experiments.