title: Magnetic nanodots from atomic Fe: can it be done?
abstract: Laser focusing of Fe atoms offers the possibility of creating separate magnetic structures on a scale of 10 nm with exact periodicity. This can be done by using the parabolic minima of the potential generated by a standing light wave as focusing lenses. To achieve the desired 10-nm resolution, we need to suppress chromatic and spherical aberrations, as well as prevent structure broadening caused by the divergence of the incoming beam. Chromatic aberrations are suppressed by the development of a supersonic Fe beam source with speed ratio S = 11 +/- 1. This beam has an intensity of 3 x 10(15) atoms sr(-1) s(-1). The spherical aberrations of the standing light wave will be suppressed by aperturing with beam masks containing 100-nm slits at 744-nm intervals. The beam divergence can be reduced by application of laser cooling to reduce the transverse velocity. We have constructed a laser system capable of delivering over 500 mW of laser light at 372 nm, the wavelength of the (5)D(4) --> (5)F(5) atomic transition of (56)Fe we intend to use for laser cooling. Application of polarization spectroscopy to a hollow cathode discharge results in a locking system holding the laser continuously within 2 MHz of the desired frequency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Physics, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. e.t.sligte@tue.nl
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: te Sligte
authors.forename: R C M
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Bosch
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Smeets
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: van der Straten
authors.forename: H C W
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Beijerinck
authors.forename: K A H
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: van Leeuwen