title: Evanescent-wave trapping and evaporative cooling of an atomic gas at the crossover to two dimensions.
abstract: A dense gas of cesium atoms at the crossover to two dimensions is prepared in a highly anisotropic surface trap that is realized with two evanescent light waves. Temperatures as low as 100 nK are reached with 20,000 atoms at a phase-space density close to 0.1. The lowest quantum state in the tightly confined direction is populated by more than 60%. The system provides atoms at a mean distance from the surface as low as 1 microm, and offers intriguing prospects for future experiments on degenerate quantum gases in two dimensions.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hammes
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rychtarik
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Engeser
authors.forename: H-C
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Nägerl
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grimm