Magnetic trap
Encyclopedia
Magnetic trap refers to one of three types of traps used for atoms or charged particles:
- Magnetic trap (atoms)Magnetic trap (atoms)A magnetic trap uses a magnetic gradient to trap neutral particles with a magnetic moment. Although such traps have been employed for many purposes in physics research, they are best known as the last stage in cooling atoms to achieve Bose-Einstein condensation...
, used to trap neutral atoms in a magnetic field gradient - Penning trapPenning trapPenning traps are devices for the storage of charged particles using a homogeneous static magnetic field and a spatially inhomogeneous static electric field. This kind of trap is particularly well suited to precision measurements of properties of ions and stable subatomic particles which have...
, used to trap charged particles or ions in a combination of electrostatic potential and uniform magnetic field - Magneto-optical trapMagneto-optical trapA magneto-optical trap is a device that uses both laser cooling with magneto-optical trapping in order to produce samples of cold, trapped, neutral atoms at temperatures as low as several microkelvins, two or three times the recoil limit.By combining the small momentum of a single photon with a...
(or MOT), a trap using a magnetic gradient and laser light to trap neutral atoms - Magnetic tweezersMagnetic tweezersA magnetic tweezer is a scientific instrument for exerting and measuring forces on magnetic particles using a magnetic field gradient. Typical applications are single-molecule micromanipulation, rheology of soft matter, and studies of force-regulated processes in living cells. Forces are typically...
, a trap using a magnetic field to trap micrometre-seized ferromagnetic beads