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D P Rhodes, G P Lancaster, J Livesey, D McGloin, J Arlt, and K Dholakia (2002)
Guiding a cold atomic beam along a co-propagating and oblique hollow light guide
Optics Communications 214:247–254.
We experimentally study the guiding of a low velocity
intense source (LVIS) of cold atoms along co-propagating and
oblique blue-detuned Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) light beams. For
a co- propagating guide we observe a flux enhancement of
120% and we study the effect of guide beam detuning and
power. For an oblique LG guide we find few atoms coupled into
the guide from the LVIS and primarily observe deflection and
recirculation of the LVIS atoms rather than guiding. The
guided flux is enhanced by use of an imaged obstruction
allowing LVIS atoms to enter the oblique guide more easily. A
physical model is presented to account for our observations
and highlights important considerations for developing cold
atom optic elements based on blue-detuned hollow light beams.
(C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0030-4018(02)02130-2