Trapping Atoms in a Dark Optical Lattice

Abstract

We demonstrate a new type of optical lattice which confines atoms in nearly dark states. The lattice is formed by cooperation of an optical standing wave detuned to the blue with respect to an atomic $F\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1\ensuremath{\rightarrow}F\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}1$ transition and a homogeneous magnetic field. The atoms are predominantly localized where the light is purely $\ensuremath{\pi}$ polarized such that they are optically pumped to the ${m}_{F}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}=\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}0$ Zeeman component which is decoupled from the light field. We have observed quantized vibrations of the localized atoms by means of probe transmission spectroscopy. Our ``dark'' optical lattice works in two and three dimensions.