Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Absorption-Induced Trapping In An Anisotropic Magneto-Optical Trap, Joel A. Greenberg, M. Oria, Andrew M.C. Dawes, Daniel J. Gauthier

Andrew M C Dawes

We report on a simple anisotropic magneto-optical trap for neutral atoms that produces a large sample of cold atoms confined in a cylindrically-shaped volume with a high aspect ratio (100:1). Due to the large number of trapped atoms, the laser beams that propagate along the optically thick axis of the trap to cool the atoms are substantially attenuated. We demonstrate that the resulting intensity imbalance produces a net force that spatially localizes the atoms. This limits both the trap length and the total number of trapped atoms. Rotating the cooling beams by a small angle relative to the trap axis …