Abstract

We have constructed a permanent-magnet trap that provides a tightly confining potential useful for producing dense ultracold atomic vapors.¹ This trap will be used to investigate quantum-statistical effects of ⁶Li and ⁷Li. Permanent magnets can produce field strengths and gradients comparable to those of superconducting-magnet traps but with reduced complexity and greater optical access. Our trap uses an arrangement of magnets in an Ioffe configuration,² which features a nonzero magnetic-field minimum. Atoms are trapped about this minimum through the interaction of their total magnetic moment with the trap's magnetic field. The nonzero minimum prevents trap- loss-producing spin-flip (Majorana) transitions.

© 1995 Optical Society of America