Atom optics (or atomic optics) is the section of Physics which deal with beams of cold, slowly moving neutral atoms, as a special case of a particle beam ^*.

^*

Like an optical beam, the atomic beam may show the diffraction, interference, it can be reflected or focused with an atomic mirror or atomic hologram. ^* Many scientific groups work in area of atom optics ^*, ^*, ^* (the list is far from complete).

Until 2006, the resolution of imaging systems with atomic beam was not better than that of an optical microscope, but recent scientific publicaitons about evanescent field lenses ^* and ridged mirrors (^*). show significant improvement since the beginning of the century and express optimistic forecasts.

Optics