Abstract
In recent years remarkable success was achieved in trapping neutral particles with a magnetic moment such as neutrons, hydrogen and sodium using static magnetic fields.[1] In all these experiments particles were trapped in a local minimum of the magnetic field, the spin antiparallel to the field. Even though the classical Earnshaw theorem forbids the creation of a local maximum of the magnetic field in free space, a maximum be achieved around a region of non zero current. An atom with spin S and magnetic moment μ experiences in the magnetic field of a current carrying wire (Fig. 1) a potential . This potential is attractive for the spin parallel to the magnetic field. For the spin (magnetic moment) to follow adiabatically the magnetic field its, Larmor precession (ωL) has to be much faster than the perceived rotation of the magnetic field the atom sees in its rest frame (ωO). For cicular like orbits one can show that , where 1 is the angular momentum quantum number. A simple estimate of the lifetime τ of these states to spin flip transitions can be made using an argument given by Güttiger[2]: .
© 1992 IQEC
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