LOADING ATOMS INTO A SURFACE TRAP - SIMULATIONS OF AN EXPERIMENTAL SCHEME

We present simulations of a scheme for the continuous loading of pre-c ooled atoms into the lowest energy states of an optical surface trap. The atoms fall under gravity towards the surface of a prism where evan escent waves are used to decelerate the falling atoms and to pump them into a trapped state in an optical standing wave. The simulations are performed using the Monte-Carlo wavefunction technique and are design ed to represent the proposed experimental scheme as closely as is prac tically possible. The probabilities of atoms being pumped into the dif ferent trapped states have been calculated as a function of the proper ties of the braking and pumping fields. The effective temperature of t he final distribution of the atoms is calculated in order to find the change in phase-space density. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.