Atom optics (or atomic optics) is the area of

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which ...

which deals with beams of cold, slowly moving neutral atoms, as a special case of a

particle beam A particle beam is a stream of charged or neutral particles. In particle accelerators, these particles can move with a velocity close to the speed of light. There is a difference between the creation and control of charged particle beams and ne ...

. Like an optical beam, the atomic beam may exhibit

diffraction Diffraction is defined as the interference or bending of waves around the corners of an obstacle or through an aperture into the region of geometrical shadow of the obstacle/aperture. The diffracting object or aperture effectively becomes a s ...

and interference, and can be focused with a Fresnel

zone plate A zone plate is a device used to Focus (optics), focus light or other things exhibiting wave character.G. W. Webb, I. V. Minin and O. V. Minin, “Variable Reference Phase in Diffractive Antennas”, ''IEEE Antennas and Propagation Magazine'', ...

or a concave atomic mirror. Several scientific groups work in this field.Atom Optics at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

(Australia) homepage Until 2006, the resolution of imaging systems based on atomic beams was not better than that of an optical

microscope A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisi ...

, mainly due to the poor performance of the focusing elements. Such elements use small

numerical aperture In optics, the numerical aperture (NA) of an optical system is a dimensionless number that characterizes the range of angles over which the system can accept or emit light. By incorporating index of refraction in its definition, NA has the proper ...

; usually, atomic mirrors use grazing incidence, and the reflectivity drops drastically with increase of the grazing angle; for efficient normal reflection, atoms should be ultracold, and dealing with such atoms usually involves

magnetic Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particl ...

magneto-optical A magneto-optical drive is a kind of optical disc drive capable of writing and rewriting data upon a magneto-optical disc. Both 130 mm (5.25 in) and 90 mm (3.5 in) form factors exist. In 1983, just a year after the introduct ...

optical Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultravio ...

traps. Recent scientific publications about Atom Nano-Optics,

evanescent field In electromagnetics, an evanescent field, or evanescent wave, is an oscillating electric and/or magnetic field that does not propagate as an electromagnetic wave but whose energy is spatially concentrated in the vicinity of the source (oscillati ...

lenses and

ridged mirror In atomic physics, a ridged mirror (or ridged atomic mirror, or Fresnel diffraction mirror) is a kind of atomic mirror, designed for the specular reflection of neutral particles (atoms) coming at a grazing incidence angle. In order to reduce the ...

s show significant improvement since the beginning of the 21st century. In particular, an

atomic hologram Atomic may refer to: * Of or relating to the atom, the smallest particle of a chemical element that retains its chemical properties * Atomic physics, the study of the atom * Atomic Age, also known as the "Atomic Era" * Atomic scale, distances comp ...

can be realized. An extensive review article "Optics and interferometry with atoms and molecules" appeared in July 2009. More bibliography about Atom Optics can be found at the Resource Letter.

References

*Atomic and Optical Science Researchers at the University of Arizona: http://www.atomwave.org. * Pierre Meystre. ''Atom Optics'' * Atomic, molecular, and optical physics {{atomic-physics-stub

See also

References