Laser Trapping of Neutral Particles

Curtis C. Bradley, Randall G. Hulet

Kazuko Shimizu

Fujio Shimizu

Arthur Ashkin

The techniques of optical trapping and manipulation of neutral particles by lasers provide unique means to control the dynamics of small particles. These new experimental methods have played a revolutionary role in areas of the physical and biological sciences. This paper reviews the early developments in the field leading to the demonstration of cooling and trapping of neutral atoms in atomic physics and to the first use of optical tweezers traps in biology. Some further major achievements of these rapidly developing methods also are considered.

Makoto Morinaga, T. Kishimoto

A new geometry to trap neutral particles with an ac electric field using a simple electrodes structure is described. In this geometry, all electrodes are placed on a single chip plane, while particles are levitated above the chip. This provides an easy construction of the trap and a good optical access to the trap. particle storage, atom optics, laser cooling 1

Aeron Tynes Hammack, Martin E. Griswold, Леонид Викторович Бутов +3 more

Optical trapping and manipulation of neutral particles has led to a variety of experiments from stretching DNA-molecules to trapping and cooling of neutral atoms. An exciting recent outgrowth of the technique is an experimental implementation of atom Bose-Einstein condensation. In this Letter, we propose and demonstrate laser-induced trapping for a new system--a gas of excitons in quantum well structures. We report on the trapping of a highly degenerate Bose gas of excitons in laser-induced traps.