Trapping and Manipulating Neutral Atoms with Electrostatic Fields

We report on experiments with cold thermal ⁷Li atoms confined in combined magnetic and electric potentials. A novel type of three-dimensional trap was formed by modulating a magnetic guide using electrostatic fields. We observed atoms trapped in a string of up to six individual such traps, a controlled transport of an atomic cloud over a distance of 400 μm, and a dynamic splitting of a single trap into a double well potential. Applications for quantum information processing are discussed.