Effect of anharmonicities in the critical number of trapped condensed atoms with attractive two-body interaction

We determine the quantitative effect, in the maximum number of particles and other static observables, due to small anharmonic terms added to the confining potential of an atomic condensed system with negative two-body interaction. As an example of how a cubic or quartic anharmonic term can affect the maximum number of particles, we consider the trap parameters and the results given by Roberts et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 4211 (2001)]. However, this study can be easily transferred to other trap geometries to estimate anharmonic effects.Comment: Total of 5 pages, 3 figures and 1 table. To appear in Phys. Rev.

LASER COOLING OF ATOMS AND ITS APPLICATION IN FREQUENCY STANDARDS

The results of studies into the laser cooling of atoms have been summarized and the possibilities of application of cold atoms in frequency standards have been considered. It has been shown that the optical frequency standard on the basis of laser-cooled atoms Mg, Ca or Sr may have the long-term stability of about 10-15

Atoms in the counter-propagating frequency-modulated waves: splitting, cooling, confinement

We show that the counter-propagating frequency-modulated (FM) waves of the same intensity can split an orthogonal atomic beam into two beams. We calculate the temperature of the atomic ensemble for the case when the atoms are grouped around zero velocity in the direction of the waves propagation. The high-intensity laser radiation with a properly chosen carrier frequency can form a one-dimensional trap for atoms. We carry out the numerical simulation of the atomic motion (two-level model of the atom-field interaction) using parameters appropriate for sodium atoms and show that sub-Doppler cooling can be reached. We suppose that such a cooling is partly based on the cooling without spontaneous emission in polychromatic waves [H. Metcalf, Phys. Rev. A 77, 061401 (2008)]. We calculate the state of the atom in the field by the Monte Carlo wave-function method and describe its mechanical motion by the classical mechanics