Abstract

The temperature and phase space density of dense, cylindrical atomic clouds is investigated in a 2D Magneto−optic trap (MOT). As the atom cloud is deformed to reduce the radial optical density, the temperature decreases due to suppression of photon rescattering, leading to an increase in phase space density. Phase space densities of 2 × 10⁻⁴ have been achieved in a MOT containing 2 × 10⁸ atoms.

© 2004 Optical Society of America