Observation of Caustics in the Trajectories of Cold Atoms in a Linear Magnetic Potential

We have studied the spatial and temporal dynamics of a cold atom cloud in the conservative force field of a ferromagnetic guide, after laser cooling has been switched off suddenly. We observe outgoing 'waves' that correspond to caustics of individual trajectories of trapped atoms. This provides detailed information on the magnetic field, the energy distribution and the spin states.Comment: 21 pages, incl. 12 figure