Eur. Phys. J. D 15, 173-180 (2001)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s100530170163

Magnetic field tomography

¹ Instituto de Física de São Carlos, USP, Caixa Postal 369, CEP 13560-970, São Carlos/SP, Brazil
² Laboratoire Ondes et Désordre (FRE 2302 CNRS) , 1361 route des Lucioles, 06560 Valbonne, France

Corresponding author: ^a Philippe.Courteille@up.univ-mrs.fr

Received: 20 March 2001
Revised: 12 May 2001
Published online: 15 August 2001

Abstract

Neutral atoms may be trapped via the interaction of their magnetic dipole moment with magnetic field gradients. One of the possible schemes is the cloverleaf trap. It is often desirable to have at hand a fast and precise technique for measuring the magnetic field distribution. We use for instantaneous imaging the equipotential lines of the magnetic field a diagnostic tool which is based on spatially resolved observation of the fluorescence emitted by a hot beam of sodium atoms crossing a thin slice of resonant laser light within the magnetic field region to be investigated. The inhomogeneous magnetic field spatially modulates the resonance condition between the Zeeman-shifted hyperfine sublevels and the laser light and therefore the amount of scattered photons. We apply this technique for mapping the field of our cloverleaf trap in three dimensions under various conditions.