First Prototype built in 2002 Alain Michaud Second Prototype built in 2006

(Français)

I am a researcher at the National Research Council, Canada. I am mainly interested in microwave metrology and laser cooling of rubidium.

With my colleagues, we are working towards an atomic microwave power standard. It is based on the measurement of the Rabi frequency (my page on Rabi frequency) of an hyperfine transition in laser cooled rubidium.

This page describes our actual experiment, as well as my previous work in other locations. I hope that you will find it usefull. If you would like to get more information, please contact me. Thank you for coming to this page.

    Alain Michaud

    Institute for National Measurement Standards,
    National Research Council of Canada,
    Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1A 0R6

    email:    Alain.Michaud@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
    telephone: (1)(613)-998-6925
    fax: (1)(613)-952-1394



ATOMIC POWER STANDARD: FIRST PROTOTYPE

The construction of our FIRST PROTOTYPE started in 2000.

The long description of the experiment and results of the FIRST PROTOTYPE is available on line: (ArXiv:physics/0503120). It is also available in html: (first prototype in html).

In December 2001 we had some experimental data showing that the device could be used as a standard.

In May 2002, we had a presentation at the CAP-ACP annual meeting in Québec City. Here is the (html) summary of the CAP-ACP presentation
that was published in "Physics in Canada" magazine.

In June 2002 there was a presentation at CPEM 2002 in Ottawa. Here is the (pdf) sumary that apeared in the conference proceedings: (summary of the CPEM 2002 conference)  (also from: arXiv:physics/0504066).

In August 2002, I went to ICAP'2002(ICAP'2002 web page). Here is the (pdf) summary of the presentation:  (summary of the ICAP 2002 presentation) that appeared in the conference proceedings (arXiv/050464).
First prototype


ATOMIC POWER STANDARD: SECOND PROTOTYPE

Since 2003, we were building an inprooved version of the power standard. This time the goal was to evaluate the accuracy of the power measurements:

In may 2004 we had the first evaluation of the accuracy of the standard.

In June 2004, I went to the CPEM'2004 conference in London (CPEM'2004 web page). Here is the summary in pdf that appeared in the conference proceedings: (CPEM'2004 proceedings summary) (also from: arXiv:physics/0504065).

In April 2005, the accuracy evaluation is published by the IEEE (doi.org: (april 2005 paper from doi.org).  It is also available in html: (april 2005 paper in html) and other formats at : arXiv:physics/0503111. Our paper was reported in Microwave & RF (july 2005, p.54) (citation in Microwave and RF.

In July 2006, I went to the CPEM'2006 conference in Torino (CPEM'2006 web page). Here is the summary in pdf that appeared in the conference proceedings: (CPEM'2006 proceedings summary).		 second Prototype


LASER COOLING AND TRAPPING: TROOP

In 1993, I was in Paris in the cold atoms group of LKB/ENS under Dr. Christophe Salomon. Together with Dr. Philippe Bouyer now at the university of Paris Sud in Orsay (Dr. Bouyer at Orsay) and other colleagues we developed the Trap Relying On Optical Pumping: TROOP (abstract and paper: arXiv:quant-ph/0509156, from this server: TROOP paper in pdf, in ps format: TROOP paper in ps).  This work has also been presented at the EQEC94 conference (paper presented at EQEC94 conference). 


LASER COOLING: FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES

During the 1993-1996 period, I also worked on two projects with Dr. Denis Boiron , now at the Université de Paris sud in Orsay (Dr. Boiron in Orsay). First, we studied the low temperatures obtained with the "gray" optical molasses (paper on gray optical molasses). Some priliminary results have been presented at EQEC96 conference (paper at the EQEC96 conference). We also studied the optical latices and far-detuned dipole traps (paper on dipole trap).
ATOMIC FOUNTAIN:

In 1992-1993, I was working as a post doctoral fellow in the group of Dr. Christopher Foot, at the University of Oxford (Clarendon Laboratory) (Dr. Foot's group) on the realization of frequency standard using an atomic fountain, also called Zacharias fountain. Here is the paper that was published in the proceeding of the 7th European Frequency and Time forum, EFTF'93, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, March 1993:  arXiv:quant-ph/0505198. It is also available form this server in  html: fountain paper in html, pdf: fountain paper in pdf, and the old version in bitmap: fountain paper in bitmap.  Atomic fountain


EXTENDED CAVITY LASER DIODE:


Fabry-Perot interferometer In 1991-1992, I worked at the BIPM in Paris. I worked under Dr. Jean-Marie Chartier on the realization of Extended Cavity Lasers for application to length metrology. This work was done in cooperation with the Laboratoire de l'Horloge Atomique in Orsay.

OPTICALLY PUMPED RUBIDIUM MASER:

I did my graduate studies at Université Laval, in Québec, in the group of Dr. Michel Têtu. Dr. Pierre Tremblay was the co-director with Dr. Têtu for my Ph.D thesis (1990)  Ph.D thesis in french. The paper: "Experimental Study of the Laser Diode Pumped Rubidium  Maser" is here: arXiv:physics/0508337, (paper on maser from local server). This work has also been presented at the CPEM'90  conference in June 1990 (presentation at CPEM90).  The theoritical study of the maser pumped by modulated laser has been published in 1993 (paper reference/abstract on theoritical study), (paper on theoritical study in pdf format). We also studied the absorption lines of alkalis in arbitrary magnetic fields (paper on absorption lines).


CHARACTERIZATION OF FREQUENCY STABILITY:

Dr. Michel Têtu was the director for my M. Sc. thesis (1987), in french: M. Sc. Thesis.

I also took part in a research related to the phase measurements and characterization of mobile radio channels: paper on phase measurements.


Discontinuity calculator:



The Discontinuity calculator is a real time application available on this site. It can evaluate the equivalent capacitive reactance due to a step discontinuity in a coaxial transmission line.		 Smith chart

On this server:



On the web:

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©Alain Michaud, 2004-2008
28/04/2008