STIMULATED FOCUSING AND DEFLECTION OF AN ATOMIC-BEAM USING PICOSECONDLASER-PULSES

Using the stimulated force exerted by counterpropagating pi pulses fro m a mode-locked Ti:sapphire laser we have focused a beam of laser-cool ed cesium atoms along one dimension to about 57% of its original width in the detection zone. We determined the force profile outside and in side the overlap region of the pulses and found agreement with an earl ier theoretical prediction. The scheme does not require an effective t wo-level system and is therefore suitable for a large variety of eleme nts. [S1050-2947(97)51011-0].