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A waveguide atom beamsplitter for laser-cooled neutral atoms

Dirk Mueller, Eric A. Cornell, Marco Prevedelli, Peter D. D. Schwindt, Dana Z. Anderson

physics.atom-pharXiv:physics/0003091

Abstract

A laser-cooled neutral-atom beam from a low-velocity intense source is split into two beams while guided by a magnetic-field potential. We generate our multimode-beamsplitter potential with two current-carrying wires on a glass substrate combined with an external transverse bias field. The atoms bend around several curves over a 10-cm distance. A maximum integrated flux of 1.5·105 atoms/s is achieved with a current density of 5·104 Ampere/cm2 in the 100-μm diameter wires. The initial beam can be split into two beams with a 50/50 splitting ratio.

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