NEW ATOM TRAP CONFIGURATIONS IN THE NEAR-FIELD OF LASER-RADIATION

Considered are trap configurations arising in the near held of laser radiation diffracting on the small (in comparison with wavelength) circular hole. In the case of negative frequency detuning Omega two types of traps are formed: one on the axis of the stem before the aperture (well depth of the order of h/Omega/6) and the other, ring trap, in the vicinity of the sharp edge of the hole. In the case of Omega>0 when account is taken of the gravitational field with strength g (or other uniform field) a ring trap arises with a depth of the order of 0.001 Mga, where a is the hole radius.