Proposal for a Magneto-Optical Lattice for Trapping Atoms in Nearly-Dark States

We present a new type of lattice for trapping cold atoms in nearly-dark states where they weakly interact with light. The periodic potential is obtained with fields in a lin ⊥ lin configuration tuned on the blue side of a J → J transition and in the presence of a uniform static magnetic field. A numerical analysis performed for J = 4 demonstrates the occurrence of very small absorption widths and large populations in the lowest vibrational states. These lattices should be interesting for increasing the atomic density and for observing delocalized atomic wave functions.