We report on a scheme to improve the pointing stability of the first order beam diffracted by an acousto-optic modulator (AOM). Due to thermal effects inside the crystal, the angular position of the beam can change by as much as when the radio-frequency power in the AOM is reduced to decrease the first order beam intensity. This is done, for example, to perform forced evaporative cooling in ultracold atom experiments using far-off-resonant optical traps. We solve this problem by driving the AOM with two radio frequencies and . The power of is adjusted relative to the power of to keep the total power constant. Using this, the beam displacement is decreased by a factor of 20. The method is simple to implement in existing experimental setups, without any modification of the optics.
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April 2007
Research Article|
April 02 2007
Two-frequency acousto-optic modulator driver to improve the beam pointing stability during intensity ramps
B. Fröhlich;
B. Fröhlich
5. Physikalisches Institut,
Universität Stuttgart
, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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T. Lahaye;
T. Lahaye
5. Physikalisches Institut,
Universität Stuttgart
, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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B. Kaltenhäuser;
B. Kaltenhäuser
5. Physikalisches Institut,
Universität Stuttgart
, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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H. Kübler;
H. Kübler
5. Physikalisches Institut,
Universität Stuttgart
, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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S. Müller;
S. Müller
5. Physikalisches Institut,
Universität Stuttgart
, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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T. Koch;
T. Koch
5. Physikalisches Institut,
Universität Stuttgart
, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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M. Fattori;
M. Fattori
5. Physikalisches Institut,
Universität Stuttgart
, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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T. Pfau
T. Pfau
5. Physikalisches Institut,
Universität Stuttgart
, Pfaffenwaldring 57, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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Rev. Sci. Instrum. 78, 043101 (2007)
Article history
Received:
January 16 2007
Accepted:
March 01 2007
Citation
B. Fröhlich, T. Lahaye, B. Kaltenhäuser, H. Kübler, S. Müller, T. Koch, M. Fattori, T. Pfau; Two-frequency acousto-optic modulator driver to improve the beam pointing stability during intensity ramps. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 1 April 2007; 78 (4): 043101. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2720725
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