Abstract
We demonstrate that atoms in magnetically insensitive hyperfine states (m=0) can be trapped efficiently by a Bose-Einstein Condensate of the same atomic species occupying a different hyperfine state. The latter is trapped magnetically. Hyperfine-state–changing collisions, and therefore loss of the trapped (m=0) atoms, are shown to be strongly inhibited in case of a low density of the confined atomic cloud. We monitor the transition from a "soft" to a "hard" effective potential by studying the backaction of the trapped (m=0) atoms onto the condensate which provides their confinement. The controlled outcoupling of the trapped atoms by shaping the condensate wave function is explored. We observe a pulsed emission of atoms from the trapping region reminiscent of an atom laser.