Optical Funnel for Focusing Atoms

Cold atoms, held in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) by fields from magnet coils and cooling laser beams, are allowed to fall downward and are focused by evanescent light produced by a separate hollow laser beam. The atoms, much collimated, exit the trap through a hole at the bottom.

Reported by: Takamizawa et al. in Applied Physics Letters, 30 August 2004

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