We have analytically explored the artificial magnetism for a 3D spin-polarized harmonically trapped ideal Fermi gas of electrically neutral particles exposed to a uniform synthetic magnetic field. Though polarization of the spin is necessary for trapping electrically neutral atoms in a magneto-optical trap, Pauli paramagnetism can not be studied for the spin-polarized Fermi system. However, it is possible to study Landau diamagnetism and de Haas-van Alphen effect for such a system. We have unified the artificial Landau diamagnetism and the artificial de Haas-van Alphen effect in a single framework for all temperatures as well as for all possible magnitudes of the synthetic magnetic field in the thermodynamic limit. Our prediction is testable in the present-day experimental setup for ultracold fermionic atoms in magneto-optical trap.
The purpose of this project was to theoretically study and design a laser trap for neutral atoms. At low atomic densities, such a trap could be used to address a number of fundamental questions, e.g., the interaction of an individual atom with an electromagnetic field, collision dynamics, recombination. In particular, after examining a variety of laser-magnet trap concepts, we studied the feasibility and limitations of a 'corner cube' laser trap for potassium atoms based on a near-resonant CW TEM sub 01 ('doughnut mode') alexandrite laser beam with cooling provided by He4 atoms at approx. 1.5 K and designed initial experiments.
We describe techniques for creating long-lived magneto-optical and magnetostatic traps for neutral atoms. These traps exist in a sealed cryogenic environment with a temperature near 4 K, where the background gas pressure can be extremely low. To date we have observed cesium magneto-optical traps with background-limited lifetimes in excess of 1 h, and magnetostatic traps with lifetimes of nearly 10 min. From these observations we use the known He-Cs van der Waals collision cross section to infer typical background gas pressures in our apparatus below 4\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}${10}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}12}$ Torr. With hardware improvements we expect this pressure can be made much lower, extending the magnetostatic-trap lifetimes one to two orders of magnitude. Furthermore, with a cryogenic system one can use superconducting magnets and SQUID detectors to trap and to nondestructively sense spin-polarized atoms. With superconducting microstructures one can achieve very large magnetic-field gradients and curvatures, as high as \ensuremath{\sim}
106 G/cm and \ensuremath{\sim}
109 G/
cm2, respectively, for use in magnetic and magneto-optical traps.