Dark-hollow-beam guiding and splitting of a low-velocity atomic beam

We observed guiding, collimating, focusing, and splitting of a continuous, low-velocity rubidium atomic beam with a blue-detuned dark-hollow laser bea m. The low-velocity atomic beam was produced in a magnetooptical trap and w as loaded into the dark center of the hollow beam. By overlapping the dark- hollow beam with the atomic beam, the rubidium atoms could be collimated or focused. When the dark-hollow beam intercepted the atomic beam at an angle , two spatially separated rubidium atomic beams were produced, one of which was extracted and guided by the dark-hollow beam. (C) 2000 Optical Society of America [S0740-3224(00)01811-7].