Interaction of laser-cooled 87Rb atoms with higher order modes of an optical nanofibre

Optical nanofibres are used to confine light to sub-wavelength regions and are very promising tools for the development of optical fibre-based quantum networks using cold, neutral atoms. To date, experimental studies on atoms near nanofibres have focussed on fundamental fibre mode interactions. In this work, we demonstrate the integration of a few-mode optical nanofibre into a magneto-optical trap for 87Rb atoms. The nanofibre, with a waist diameter of ∼700 nm, supports both the fundamental and first group of higher order modes (HOMs) and is used for atomic fluorescence and absorption studies. In general, light propagating in higher order fibre modes has a greater evanescent field extension around the waist in comparison with the fundamental mode. By exploiting this behaviour, we demonstrate that the detected signal of fluorescent photons emitted from a cloud of cold atoms centred at the nanofibre waist is larger if HOMs are also included. In particular, the signal from HOMs appears to be about six times larger than that obtained for the fundamental mode. Absorption of on-resonance, HOM probe light by the laser-cooled atoms is also observed. These advances should facilitate the realization of atom trapping schemes based on HOM interference.