Document 
Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 159, 127-134 (2008)
DOI: 10.1140/epjst/e2008-00701-4
The atom diode
A one-way laser barrier for cooling atoms
A. Ruschhaupt1 and J.G. Muga21 Institut für Mathematische Physik, TU Braunschweig, Mendelssohnstrasse 3, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany
2 Departamento de Química-Física, UPV-EHU, Apartado 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain
a.ruschhaupt@tu-bs.de
jg.muga@ehu.es
Published online: 21 May 2008
Abstract
Different laser devices working as "atom diodes" for ultra-cold atoms
have been proposed recently. They transmit ground state level atoms coming
from
one side, say from the left, but reflect them when they come from the other
side.
We present and compare some of these models.
In all of them spontaneous decay is included
as an irreversible element which avoids backwards motion after the atom has
crossed the diode.
We also review the proposal of a cooling method based on an
"atom diode".
© EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag 2008