Evanescent-light guiding of atoms through hollow optical fiber for optically controlled atomic deposition

This work demonstrates that the technique of guiding atoms through hollow optical fiber escorted by evanescent light is useful as a novel scheme of optical atom deposition. To show the feasibility of fabricating micron-sized structures with nanometric depth on a substrate, we measure the spatial distribution of the guided atom flux with a hot-wire detector. Moreover, precise control of the deposition rate is illustrated with a 1.4-mu m-hollow fiber via photoionization spectroscopy, The ratio of the guided atom flux relative to the background transmission is enhanced up to 80-fold with a slightly tilted hollow fiber. (C) 1997 American Insitute of Physics.