Limits on weak magnetic confinement of neutral atoms
Limits on weak magnetic confinement of neutral atoms
It is shown that when a magnetic field is used to support neutral atoms against the gravitational force $mg$, the total curvature of the field magnitude $B$ must be larger than ${m}^{2}{g}^{2}∕(2{\ensuremath{\mu}}^{2}B)$, where $\ensuremath{\mu}$ is the magnetic moment of the atoms. This limits the minimum confinement strength obtainable for a …