Abstract
We explore the nature of the optical quadrupole interaction and their influence on atomic manipulation for a specific type of light, namely, Hermite–Gaussian laser light in the form of a single mode configuration. We emphasize that the optical quadrupole interaction effects characterizing these modes give rise to the trapping phenomena, when such light is made to interact with atoms at near resonance. This result indicates that quadrupole interaction usually ignored for atom manipulations should be available for utilization mainly in the processes involving dipole-forbidden.