Colliding atomic clouds using a double-well trap

Atoms which have a nonzero magnetic moment (i.e. they behave as small bar magnets) can be confined by magnetic potentials (click here to learn more).

By confining atoms in magnetic double-well potential and ramping it to a single-well configuration collisions will occur as illustrated above. The trap changes faster than the atoms can adjust so they end up on the side of the parabola, and are accelerated towards the minimum of the trap.

---

Subsections

• Creating a magnetic double-well potential
  • The Ioffe-Pritchard Trap
  • Photo of the QUIC trap
  
  
• What does it look like??
  • How do we detect the atoms??
  • How did the clouds get so cold??
  
  
• Zooming in on the collision

---

Next: Creating a magnetic double-well potential Up: A Collider for Ultracold Atoms Previous: Cold and ultracold collisions

nk 2004-11-02