Abstract

We review schemes for laser-like sources of atoms where - in close analogy to the laser - many atoms occupy a single center-of-mass motional state. In contrast to the ordinary laser and in contrast to Bose-Einstein condensation, which was recently observed in alkaline vapours, the laser-like source of atoms is an open system far from thermodynamic equilibrium with a state being determined by interactions between the atoms and between photons and atoms [1,2].

© 1996 Optical Society of America