Compact Versatile Laser System for Rb BECs

The compact, versatile laser system that we designed in our Phase I effort will facilitate research into rubidium Bose Einstein Condensates (BECs), with applications including BEC fundamental science experiments, sensors and atomic clocks. Operational features readily accommodate cooling cycles for achieving BEC. The versatility of the laser system is a critical factor in its applicability to a wide variety of physics packages, and allows end-user reconfiguration of functionality to address a broad range of applications Our compact laser system design minimizes critical component counts without sacrificing versatility. Hardware economization not only benefits the system cost and volume, but also reduces power consumption and increases stability and reliability of the system. The laser system integrates a laser module, control electronics and power supply into a single 19 rack-mount enclosure. Our proposed Phase II effort will build the prototype laser system and perform subsystem and system testing to verify compliance with the stated specifications. We will refine the laser system design, yielding an improved production model design. A Phase II option will validate the laser system operation by demonstrating BEC generation.