How do you trap an atom?
For cold atoms, trapping has been achieved using resonant radia- tion pressure and/or forces from field gradients acting on either the atoms’ magnetic moments or their induced electric dipole moments. The latter force is produced by the electric field of a near-resonant, tightly focused laser beam.
Can a magnetic field trap electrons?
The transverse motion of electrons – their gyration in the magnetic field – causes synchrotron emission at high harmonics of the gyrofrequency (to be dis- cussed in Section 8.1). Trapped electrons are important sources for intense coherent radio emission.
What is a laser atom trap?
Laser cooling and trapping is the ability to cool atoms down to unprecedented kinetic temperatures, and to confine and support isolated atoms in “atom traps”. This unique new level of control of atomic motion allows researchers to study the behavior of atoms and quantum mechanical properties.
How cold is a magneto-optical trap?
We have constructed and characterized a magneto-optical trap for rubidium atoms. Our trapped atoms have a minimum temperature of 250 ± 20 at a laser detuning of ~24 MHz.
How do magnetic traps work?
A magnetic trap is an apparatus which uses a magnetic field gradient to trap neutral particles with magnetic moments. Although such traps have been employed for many purposes in physics research, they are best known as the last stage in cooling atoms to achieve Bose–Einstein condensation.
How does a magneto optical trap work?
Through a clever combination of red-detuned, circularly polarized light and magnetic fields, the magneto-optical trap (MOT) slows atoms from their speed at room temperature (around 1000 m/s) to just a few cm/s, all in about a milli-second!
What magnetic charge is the Earth?
The magnitude of Earth’s magnetic field at its surface ranges from 25 to 65 μT (0.25 to 0.65 G).
Can you freeze atoms?
Freezing atoms puts them into the lowest possible energy and is a step towards harnessing the strange effects of quantum physics, which allow objects to exist in different states at the same time.
Can a laser be cold?
Now, German researchers have shown that bombarding high-pressure gas with a laser can produce dramatic cooling, dropping the temperature as much as 66 degrees Celsius (about 119 degrees Fahrenheit) in a matter of seconds.
How do magneto-optical traps work?
How does a magnetic trap work?
What are cold atoms used for?
As a tool, cold atoms are arguably the most important component in the most accurate clocks, but the applications within precision measurements range further, including sensing and navigation. They are used in space applications, and provide realizations of fundamental quantum information and quantum technologies.
What is a magnetic trap used for in physics?
Magnetic trap (atoms) Although such traps have been employed for many purposes in physics research, they are best known as the last stage in cooling atoms to achieve Bose–Einstein condensation. The magnetic trap (as a way of trapping very cold atoms) was first proposed by David E. Pritchard .
How do magnetic traps trap low-field seeking atoms?
This minimum can trap atoms which are low-field-seeking if they do not have enough kinetic energy to escape the minimum. Typically, magnetic traps have relatively shallow field minima and are only able to trap atoms whose kinetic energies correspond to temperatures of a fraction of a kelvin.
What are the field minima required for magnetic trapping?
Typically, magnetic traps have relatively shallow field minima and are only able to trap atoms whose kinetic energies correspond to temperatures of a fraction of a kelvin. The field minima required for magnetic trapping can be produced in a variety of ways.
How is an atom trapped in a microchip?
One of the first microchip atomic traps is shown on the right. The Z-shaped conductor (actually the golden Z-shaped strip painted on the Si surface) is placed into the uniform magnetic field (the field’s source is not shown in the figure). Only atoms with positive spin-field energy were trapped.