Computer simulation of neutral atom traps

In this paper an efficient technique to compute properties of magnetic traps with axially symmetric configurations is presented. The corresponding computer code is available. By way of example we discuss quadrupole and octupole traps of comparable trapping volume and field strength. First the quality of the multipole expansion used to represent the field is tested and then Monte Carlo calculations for the efficiency of the traps are performed. They show the octupole configuration to be slightly more efficient than the quadrupole one.