Atom optics with magnetic surfaces: I. Storage of cold atoms in a curved `floppy disk'

We have demonstrated that a suitably magnetized surface can be used to retroreflect cold atoms for applications in atom optics. This has some advantages relative to evanescent wave mirrors because no light is involved. Multiple bounces of cold rubidium atoms have been observed for times up to 1 s in a trap formed by gravity and a 2 cm diameter spherical mirror made from a flexible computer disk (`floppy disk'). We have studied the dynamics of the atoms bouncing in this trap from several different heights up to 40.5 mm and we conclude that the atoms are reflected specularly and with reflectivity 1.01(3). The performance of this mirror is limited at present by collisions with the background gas and by unwanted harmonics in the magnetization of the surface. This is the first in a series of papers concerning the use of magnetized surfaces in atom optics.