title: Laser cooling and magnetic trapping at several tesla.
abstract: Laser cooling and magnetic trapping of (85)Rb atoms have been performed in extremely strong and tunable magnetic fields, extending these techniques to a new regime and setting the stage for a variety of cold atom and plasma experiments. Using a superconducting Ioffe-Pritchard trap and an optical molasses, 2.4 x 10(7) atoms were laser cooled to the Doppler limit and magnetically trapped at bias fields up to 2.9 T. At magnetic fields up to 6 T, 3 x 10(6) cold atoms were laser cooled in a pulsed loading scheme. These bias fields are well beyond an order of magnitude larger than those in previous experiments. Loading rates, molasses lifetimes, magnetic-trapping times, and temperatures were measured using photoionization and electron detection.
authors.affiliation: FOCUS Center, Department of Physics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1120, USA.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Guest
authors.forename: J-H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hansis
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Povilus
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Raithel