Very cold trapped atoms in a vapor cell

We have produced a very cold sample of spin-polarized trapped atoms. The technique used dramatically simplifies the production of laser-cooled atoms. In this experiment, 1. 810^7 neutral cesium atoms were optically captured directly from a low-pressure vapor in a small glass cell. We then cooled the 1-mm^3 cloud of trapped atoms and loaded it into a low-field magnetic trap in the same cell. The magnetically trapped atoms had an effective temperature as low as 1. 10. 2, which is the lowest kinetic temperature ever observed and far colder than any previous sample of trapped atoms.