Atom trapping in an interferometrically generated bottle beam trap

Abstract

We demonstrate an optical bottle beam trap created by interfering two fundamental Gaussian beams with different waists. The beams are derived from a single laser source using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer whose arms have unequal magnifications. Destructive interference of the two beams from the Mach-Zehnder leads to a three-dimensional intensity null at the mutual focus of the beams. We demonstrate trapping of cold cesium atoms in a blue detuned bottle beam trap.