Stable trapping of atoms in the field of two standing light waves

Vladimir G. Minogin, Yu. V. Rozhdestvenskiǐ

Yu. R. Rozhdestvenskii

Arno Rauschenbeutel, Harald Schadwinkel, V. Gomer +1 more

D. V. Kosachev, Yu. V. Rozhdestvenskiǐ

Microtraps of a new type, intended for multilevel atoms, are investigated. Strong cooling of these atoms is achieved by coherent population trapping and the potential is provided by a standing wave. This favours prolonged confinement of multilevel atoms in the periodic potential of a standing optical wave.

Graham P. Collins

Researchers in Germany and France have bound neutral atoms in regular two- and three-dimensional lattices induced by the interference patterns of several laser beams. The work builds on the techniques of magnetooptical trapping and sub-Doppler laser cooling and on previous work in which atoms were bound in onedimensional standing waves of light. The fields of light in these techniques are called optical molasses, because atoms within them experience viscous forces, which cool the atoms to temperatures on the order of microkelvins. In the new, “crystalline” molasses, the standing waves produce a stable, regular array of potential wells—a microscopic “egg carton”— and the atoms become localized at the bottoms of the wells.

В. В. Климов, Vladilen S Letokhov