Accelerated Thermalisation of 39K atoms in a Magnetic Trap with Superimposed Optical Potential

Abstract

We report the rapid accelerated thermalisation of Potassium 39 K atoms loaded in a magnetic trap, in the presence of a single dipole trap beam. More than an order of magnitude reduction in the thermalisation time, to less than a second, is observed with the focused off- resonant beam occupying only 0.01% of the volume of the magnetic trap. The cold atoms are loaded from a Magneto-Optical Trap(MOT) of 39 K that has gone through a compressed MOT and sub-Doppler cooling stage. The atoms are prepared in the magnetically stretched |F = 2, mF = 2> state prior to loading into the hybrid trap. We also report a direct loading of 39 K atoms, prepared in the state |F = 1>, into a single beam dipole trap.