S. Middelkamp et al 2008 EPL 84 40011 doi:10.1209/0295-5075/84/40011
S. Middelkamp1, I. Lesanovsky2 and P. Schmelcher1,3
Show affiliationsWe demonstrate that atoms in magnetically insensitive hyperfine states (m=0) can be trapped efficiently by a Bose-Einstein Condensate of the same atomic species occupying a different hyperfine state. The latter is trapped magnetically. Hyperfine-state–changing collisions, and therefore loss of the trapped (m=0) atoms, are shown to be strongly inhibited in case of a low density of the confined atomic cloud. We monitor the transition from a "soft" to a "hard" effective potential by studying the backaction of the trapped (m=0) atoms onto the condensate which provides their confinement. The controlled outcoupling of the trapped atoms by shaping the condensate wave function is explored. We observe a pulsed emission of atoms from the trapping region reminiscent of an atom laser.
Issue 4 (November 2008)
Received 22 July 2008, accepted for publication 16 October 2008
Published 17 November 2008
S. Middelkamp et al 2008 EPL 84 40011
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