Abstract
There is currently much interest in developing efficient mirrors and beamsplitters for beams of laser-cooled atoms for atom optics and interferometry. A new approach, which does not rely on light fields and hence avoids the complication of spontaneous emission, is to use the interaction between a static inhomogeneous magnetic field and the permanent magnetic dipole moment of the atom [1-4]. In the scheme proposed by Opat et al. [1], a spatially varying periodic magnetic field generated at a flat surface produces a magnetic energy density that falls off exponentially with distance from the surface. Atoms in positive magnetic states (mgF>0) moving adiabatically towards the surface are then repelled by the increasing magnetic energy density, and the surface behaves as a magnetostatic min or for slowly moving atoms.
© 1996 Optical Society of America
PDF ArticleMore Like This
A. Aspect, A. Landragin, G. Labeyrie, C. Henkel, R. Kaiser, N. Vansteenkiste, and C.I. Westbrook
ThR4 International Quantum Electronics Conference (IQEC) 1996
R Wynands, A Goepfert, D Haubrich, F Lison, C Szymanowski, and D Meschede
MI3 International Quantum Electronics Conference (IQEC) 1996
F. Lison, A. Goepfert, D. Haubrich, C. Szymanowski, R. Wynands, and D. Meschede
QTuG6 European Quantum Electronics Conference (EQEC) 1996