Abstract

In a time-orbiting-potential-trap (TOP-trap), atoms are confined by a combination of a static quadrupole field and a rotating bias field. Despite its wide-spread use, the effects of the micromotion of the atoms in such a trap have not been extensively studied so far, apart recent work by Boulder group [1]. In this work, we experimentally investigate the micromotion of a Rb Bose-Einstein condensate in a triaxial TOP-trap and compare our findings with a theoretical model and numerical simulations.

© 2000 IEEE