SIGNIFICANT EVENTS - SCIENCE EVENTS
11/28/03

PI at Wisconsin Reports Publication Describing High-Density Trap

Conventional light-force atom traps are limited in density to ~10¹¹ atoms/cm³. Thad Walker's group has demonstrated far-off-resonance traps (FORTs) that can retain densities 3 orders-of-magnitude higher than that. These traps can also be filled rapidly, achieving the high densities in tens of milliseconds instead of tens of seconds required for magnetic traps. These rapidly produced, high-density atom sources will be exploited for investigations in quantum manipulation and entanglement of atoms, and will be attractive for evaporative cooling to quantum degeneracy. The reference is: R.Newell, J.Sebby, and T.G. Walker, "Dense Atom Clouds in a Holographic Atom Trap ", Opt.Lett. 28, 1266 (2003).