Laser based techniques for producing and manipulating ultra- cold atoms are used to study basic properties of collisional interactions of ultra-cold atoms immersed in intense light fields; and to study the self-organizing properties of atoms to form very small scale structures. These new techniques are used to create, and focus into 100 nm diameter spots, two ultra-cold beams of sodium atoms. These will be used in a crossed beam configuration in high vacuum to study collision cross sections at very low relative velocities in a regime where conventional collision theory does not apply. In the final two years of this five year Presidential Young Investigator program, light pressure forces on atoms of interest to the semiconductor industry will be studied, including use of these techniques to fabricate structures on the 100nm scale with tailored transport properties.
