Dense atom clouds in a holographic atom trap

We demonstrate the production of high-density cold 87Rb samples (2 x 10(14) atoms/cm3) in a simple optical lattice formed with YAG light that is diffracted from a holographic phase plate. A loading protocol is described that results in 10,000 atoms per 10 microm x 10 microm x 100 microm unit cell of the lattice site. Rapid free evaporation leads to a temperature of 50 microK and phase space densities of 1/150 within 50 ms. The resulting small, high-density atomic clouds are very attractive for a number of experiments, including ultracold Rydberg atom physics.