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High densities of cold atoms in a dark spontaneous-force optical trap

1993; American Physical Society; Volume: 70; Issue: 15 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1103/physrevlett.70.2253

1092-0145

Wolfgang Ketterle, Kendall B. Davis, Michael Joffe, Alex Martin, David E. Pritchard,

Advanced Frequency and Time Standards

A new magneto-optical trap is demonstrated which confines atoms predominantly in a ``dark'' hyperfine level, that does not interact with the trapping light. This leads to much higher atomic densities as repulsive forces between atoms due to rescattered radiation are reduced and trap loss due to excited-state collisions is diminished. In such a trap, more than ${10}^{10}$ sodium atoms have been confined to densities approaching ${10}^{12}$ atoms ${\mathrm{cm}}^{\mathrm{\ensuremath{-}}3}$.