Aidan Arnold
Lecturer
Aidan is a kiwi and most of his education was undertaken in New Zealand (or more specifically Dunedin). His undergraduate studies were at the University of Otago where he completed a Mathematics Hons. degree before turning to the dark side with a thesis-only MSc, 'Cool things you can do with lasers' (0.8Mb), in theoretical and experimental Atomic Physics. His doctoral studies were at the University of Sussex with Dr. Malcolm Boshier. His DPhil thesis 'Preparation and manipulation of an 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate' (5.6Mb) describes the realisation of the first Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in the UK in 1998 and an ultra-smooth magnetic mirror for BECs. After obtaining his DPhil at Sussex, Aidan began a 3-year RSE Research Fellowship at Strathclyde on 01/11/99. In June 2002 he took up the position of lecturer in Atom Optics at Strathclyde.
| e: aidan.arnold 
strath.ac.uk | t: 0141 548 3357/3371 | u: http://photonics.phys.strath.ac.uk/people/aidan/
|
Research
Nowadays lasers are everywhere: in the telephone network, in your CD player, performing eye surgery, and even scanning groceries. Lasers made it possible to measure time and distance extremely precisely - something that the GPS system relies on. In 1995 the equivalent of a laser made from atoms became reality: gaseous Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). It's hoped that atom lasers, too, will revolutionize the world we live in.
BECs occur if one makes bosonic atoms extremely cold (~100 nK) and dense. In a BEC all of the atoms behave coherently, like the photons in a laser. We can already do many things that lasers are used for, as the appropriate Atom Optical tools (mirrors, beamsplitters etc.) for BECs already exist.
Strathclyde has the only BEC in Scotland. It is formed in a 10cm diameter magnetic ring for cold atoms, and was one of the first rings in the world able to store BECs. We intend to turn the storage ring into an ultra-precise Sagnac interferometer and are developing new kinds of rings and ring lattices, which should yield even higher sensitivity and the flexibility to pursue other avenues of research.
Highlights
Royal Society of Edinburgh Research Fellowship 1999-2003.
Invited talks include ESA international workshop on Optical Clocks 2005and Bose-Einstein Condensate Theory Workshop 2005
Invited visiting lecturer at Kasetsart University, Bangkok, 2003
Selected publications
A.Vernier, S.Franke-Arnold, E.Riis, A.S.Arnold, "Enhanced frequency up-conversion in Rb vapor", Opt. Exp. 18, 17020-17026 (2010) doi: 10.1364/OE.18.017020
M.Vangeleyn, P.F.Griffin, E.Riis, A.S.Arnold, "Laser cooling with a single laser beam and a planar diffractor", Opt. Lett. 35, 3453-3455 (2010) doi: 10.1364/OL.35.003453
M.E.Zawadzki, P.F.Griffin, E.Riis, A.S.Arnold, "Spatial interference from well-separated split condensates", Phys. Rev. A 81, 043608 (2010) doi: 10.1103/PhysRevA.81.043608
M.Vangeleyn, P.F.Griffin, E.Riis, A.S.Arnold, "Single-laser, one beam, tetrahedral magneto-optical trap", Opt. Exp. 17, 13601-13608 (2009) doi: 10.1364/OE.17.013601
P.F.Griffin, E.Riis, A.S.Arnold, "Smooth inductively coupled ring trap for atoms", Phys. Rev. A 77, 051402 (2008) doi: 10.1103/PhysRevA.77.051402
N.Houston, E.Riis, A.S.Arnold, "Reproducible dynamic dark ring lattices for ultracold atoms", J. Phys. B 41, 211001 (2008) doi: 10.1088/0953-4075/41/21/211001
D.A.Smith, A.S.Arnold, M.J.Pritchard, I.G.Hughes, "Experimental single-impulse magnetic focusing of launched cold atoms", J. Phys. B 41, 125302 (2008) doi: 10.1088/0953-4075/41/12/125302
S.Franke-Arnold, J.Leach, M.J.Padgett, V.E.Lembessis, D.Ellinas, A.J.Wright, J.M.Girkin, P.Ohberg, A.S.Arnold, "Optical ferris wheel for ultracold atoms", Opt. Exp. 15, 8619-8625 (2007) doi: 10.1364/OE.15.008619
A.S.Arnold, M.J.Pritchard, D.A.Smith, I.G.Hughes, "Double-impulse magnetic focusing of launched cold atoms", New J. Phys. 8, 53 (2006) doi: 10.1088/1367-2630/8/4/053
M.J.Pritchard, A.S.Arnold, S.L.Cornish, D.W.Hallwood, C.V.S.Pleasant, I.G.Hughes, "Transport of launched cold atoms with a laser guide and pulsed magnetic fields", New J. Phys. 8, 309 (2006) doi: 10.1088/1367-2630/8/12/309
A.S.Arnold, C.S.Garvie, E.Riis, "Large magnetic storage ring for Bose-Einstein condensates", Phys. Rev. A 73, 041606 (2006) doi: 10.1103/PhysRevA.73.041606
M.J.Pritchard, A.S.Arnold, D.A.Smith, I.G.Hughes, "Single-impulse magnetic focusing of launched cold atoms", J. Phys. B 37, 4435-4450 (2004) doi: 10.1088/0953-4075/37/22/004
Current Grants
Thorsten Ackemann, Aidan Arnold, Gordon Robb, , ,
Leverhulme Trust (2010-2013) £248948
Title: Self-organisation in samples of cold atoms
Erling Riis, Aidan Arnold, Paul Griffin, , ,
EPSRC (2009-2012) £574594
Title: Small-scale ring traps for atom interferometry and quantum fluid investigations
Aidan Arnold, , , , ,
Strathclyde - Research development fund (2011-2012) £41190
Title: Micro-fabricated magneto-optical traps for metrology
Aidan Arnold, , , , ,
EPSRC (2009-2012) £6334
Title: UK Network for research at the interface between cold-atom and condensed matter physics
