Abstract

We operate different types of magneto-optical traps (MOTs) for cesium. The atoms are slowed out of the gas phase and confined by radiation pressure from three orthogonal pairs of counterpropagating laser beams in a magnetic quadrupole field. We have realized these traps with different polarization configurations of the laser beams. We report about σ⁺-σ^–-, lin-45°-lin, lin-⊥-lin and lin-||-lin-polari-zation in each direction (Fig. 1). The first type corresponds to the well-known MOT that is based on spatial modulation of spontaneous light pressure force, whereas the traps with linear polarisations could be related to stimulated magneto-optical forces, too.¹

© 1994 IEEE