Sub-Doppler Traps in an Asymmetric Magneto-Optical Trap with Unequal Laser Detunings

The theoretical and experimental studies on the observation of adjustable multiple sub-Doppler traps in the six-beam magneto-optical trap (MOT) with unequal laser detunings are presented. When the detuning of the longitudinal lasers along the magnetic field axis is different from that of the transverse lasers, we obtain an array of three sub-Doppler traps; one usual but suppressed trap at the origin and two additional traps symmetrically but oppositely located at equal and controllable distances from the origin. We could explain the observed sub-Doppler traps and their behavior by the calculation of the sub-Doppler forces where multiple oscillating frequencies are involved.