Abstract

Two-dimensional traps for ultracold atomic gases are of interest for the investigation of degenerate gases, for waveguide experiments in atom optics as well as for the realization of a cw atom laser [1].

In order to load an optical surface trap, a cloud of metastable ls₅ argon atoms is released from a MOT and falls onto a gold-coated prism surface covered by evanescent light fields that are generated by two laser beams through surface-plasmon excitation (cf. Fig. 1a). We use the first of these fields at 811 nm as an evanescent-light mirror for the incoming 1s₅ atoms, whereas the second field at 715 nm optically pumps the atoms to the metastable 1s₃ state, ideally at their classical turning point.

© 1998 IEEE