Closed-loop stabilization of a quasi-electrostatic trap

We use a the signal from a solid-state infrared optical detector to control the power of a CO$_2$ laser, which is used to trap and cool a collection of rubidium-87 atoms. Atoms are loaded from a vapor cell MOT into a variable size QUEST produced by a single focused CO$_2$ laser beam. The atoms are then cooled by lowering the laser power with an acousto-optical modulator. In this poster we will discuss the effects of laser stabilization, provided by a closed-loop servo circuit between the solid-state detector and the AOM, on the temperature stability of evaporatively cooled atoms and discuss the possibility of experiments on temperature controlled, ultracold samples.