Bon MOT: Innovative atom trap catches highly magnetic atoms

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Trapped erbium: Color-enhanced image of a cloud of erbium atoms trapped and cooled and a narrow-line MOT using a single laser beam. The laser beam is coming down from the top of the image which measures about 1 millimeter square. The atoms collect al ...
Trapped erbium: Color-enhanced image of a cloud of erbium atoms trapped and cooled and a narrow-line MOT using a single laser beam. The laser beam is coming down from the top of the image, which measures about 1 millimeter square. The atoms collect along the ellipse of a constant magnetic field (dashed line) where they come into resonance with the laser. A faint cloud of residual, higher temperature atoms caught in the magnetic trap can be seen as well. Credit: Berglund/NIST

A research team from the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland has succeeded in cooling atoms of a rare-earth element, erbium, to within two millionths of a degree of absolute zero using a novel trapping and laser cooling technique. Their recent report is a major step towards a capability to capture, cool and manipulate individual atoms of erbium, an element with unique optical properties that promises highly sensitive nanoscale force or magnetic sensors, as well as single-photon sources and amplifiers at telecommunications wavelengths. It also may have applications in quantum computing devices.


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