Combined evanescent light-electro static atom trap of subwavelength size

A new combined evanescent light-electro static atom trap is proposed. Cold atoms repulse from the evanescent wave of the blue-detuned (quasi) resonant laser light formed in the total internal reflection conditions and electro statically attract to the sharp conducting tip located close to the glass-v acuum interface. It is shown that a few milliKelvin deep and subwavelength- size traps can be formed with such an approach. These traps can be easily " scaled" by using an array of tips, which makes them a perspective object fo r applications in quantum computing. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rig hts reserved.