Abstract

A near-resonant standing laser light field is used to focus a diverging beam of sodium atoms onto the atomic-beam axis. The investigations presented here distinguish between channeling of atoms with trajectories close to the axis and imaging of the atomic source. For laser detunings close to resonance, acceleration of the atoms in the transverse direction occurs. The amount of acceleration changes as either the intensity or the detuning of the standing wave is varied, thereby altering the position at which the atoms are imaged. This results in a variable focal-length lens for atoms. The experimental results are in good agreement with a theoretical model based on a continued-fraction solution for the standing-wave light forces.

© 1996 Optical Society of America

Atomic beam splitters with achromatic transverse-momentum transfer

A. P. Chu, K. S. Johnson, and M. G. Prentiss
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 13(7) 1352-1361 (1996)

Atom-optical properties of a standing-wave light field

J. J. McClelland
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 12(10) 1761-1768 (1995)

Rubidium atomic funnel

T. B. Swanson, N. J. Silva, S. K. Mayer, J. J. Maki, and D. H. McIntyre
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 13(9) 1833-1837 (1996)

Dark-hollow-beam guiding and splitting of a low-velocity atomic beam

Min Yan, Jianping Yin, and Yifu Zhu
J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 17(11) 1817-1820 (2000)

Variable aperture with graded attenuation combined with adjustable focal length lens

Chao Liu, Di Wang, and Qiong-Hua Wang
Opt. Express 27(10) 14075-14084 (2019)