Trapping Erbium Atoms: The Impossible Made Possible

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An Er beam emerging from a hot oven (orange glow on right) being slowed by a violet laser beam. Credit: Jabez McClelland
An Er beam emerging from a hot oven (orange glow on right) being slowed by a violet laser beam. Credit: Jabez McClelland

Recycling atoms? Can they do that? In a world where nearly everything can be reused, scientists are moving forward with a novel approach to using Magneto-Optical Traps (MOTs) to, in effect, recycle atoms. In a Letter published April 14th in Physical Review Letters, Jabez McClelland and James Hanssen, his colleague at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, published the results of a new way to use a MOT to trap erbium atoms.


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