How do we detect the atoms??

The atoms are detected by pulsing on a laser beams in a direction transverse to the collision. The atoms absorb the light and we image the shadow cast on CCD chip. Unlike the Sugar Loaf Mountain below the atoms are not completely opaque. Rather, the "blackness" of the shadow varies according to how many atoms the laser beam had to pass on its way to the CCD chip. The absorption image is a projection of the atomic density distribution.

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nk 2004-11-02