TRAPPING AND FOCUSING GROUND-STATE ATOMS WITH STATIC FIELDS

Possibilities of trapping ground state atoms in static fields are studied. It is shown that it is impossible to trap ground state particles at rest using arbitrary combinations of electric, magnetic, and gravitational fields, a result which is a considerable generalization of Wing's theorem. Similarly, it is impossible to make a thin lens for ground state atoms using static fields. Confinement of ground state particles in dynamic equilibrium can be achieved. Axially symmetric storage rings with electric or magnetic fields are possible and should be experimentally feasible. Such storage rings have the important advantage that ground state particles can be confined, hence loss of atoms by two-body collisions is avoided.