The neutral atom valve

Summary form only given. As the techniques for cooling and trapping atoms have advanced, so has the interest in new techniques for guiding atoms from one point in space to another. One particularly novel idea is to construct a hollow optical fiber through which atoms can be guided, with the aid of a laser beam, providing a sort of flexible atom "hose". This type of device is attractive because it can be used to transport individual atoms conveniently from one part of apparatus to another, much as is done with light transported through solid core optical fibers. Recently, one such atom hose was demonstrated in the laboratory. In this experiment laser light was used to guide the atoms through the small glass tube created by the fiber. However, no convenient method for turning off and on such flow has either been proposed or demonstrated. In this paper we describe our use of laser light to control, in a state selective manner, the ballistic flow of atoms through a commercial glass capillary and therefore our realization of a "neutral atom valve".