Sawtooth-wave adiabatic passage in a grating magneto-optical trap
Phys. Rev. A 114, 043107 – Published 13 October, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/sjqz-d1d9
Abstract
We demonstrate sawtooth wave adiabatic passage (SWAP) in a grating magneto-optical trap (MOT) operating on the transition of neutral . From numerical simulations of SWAP using our laser beam geometry, we find that SWAP provides greater cooling than triangle wave frequency modulation despite the complex polarization environment of a grating MOT. The simulation is confirmed by our experimental results, where we demonstrate a factor of 2 improvement in transfer efficiency between our grating MOT and our grating MOT. We trap up to atoms in the grating MOT, at an average temperature of 4.9 with a lifetime of approximately 0.7 s. Our results show that SWAP is effective in nonorthogonal laser beam geometries, allowing greater duty cycles or higher atom number in sensors based on narrow-line grating MOTs.