Feature

Focusing Neutral Atoms

M. A. Kadar-Kallen and K.D. Bonin

In recent work, our group has studied the use of laser ablation to produce focused beams of neutral atoms. Laser ablation has been investigated as a method of producing cold, high density beams of refractory elements (those elements that do not readily vaporize). Typically, a laser incident on a slab of material causes a thin layer to sublimate. Studies of the beams produced by this method are complicated by changes in surface characteristics caused by the removal of particles from the material.

Publish Date: 01 December 1988