  A dense gas of cesium atoms at the crossover to two-dimensionality is
prepared in a highly anisotropic surface trap that is realized with two
evanescent light waves. Temperatures as low as 100nK are reached with 20.000
atoms at a phase-space density close to 0.1. The lowest quantum state in the
tightly confined direction is populated by more than 60%. The system offers
intriguing prospects for future experiments on degenerate quantum gases in two
dimensions.
