No Arabic abstract
We discuss the contribution of the material type in metal wires to the electromagnetic fluctuations in magnetic microtraps close to the surface of an atom chip. We show that significant reduction of the magnetic noise can be achieved by replacing the pure noble metal wires with their dilute alloys. The alloy composition provides an additional degree of freedom which enables a controlled reduction of both magnetic noise and resistivity if the atom chip is cooled. In addition, we provide a careful re-analysis of the magnetically induced trap loss observed by Yu-Ju Lin et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 050404 (2004)] and find good agreement with an improved theory.
Atoms can be trapped and guided using nano-fabricated wires on surfaces, achieving the scales required by quantum information proposals. These Atom Chips form the basis for robust and widespread applications of cold atoms ranging from atom optics to fundamental questions in mesoscopic physics, and possibly quantum information systems.
Adiabatic techniques offer some of the most promising tools to achieve high-fidelity control of the centre-of-mass degree of freedom of single atoms. As their main requirement is to follow an eigenstate of the system, constraints on timing and field strength stability are usually low, especially for trapped systems. In this paper we present a detailed example of a technique to adiabatically transport a single atom between different waveguides on an atom chip. To ensure that all conditions are fulfilled, we carry out fully three dimensional simulations of the system, using experimentally realistic parameters. We also detail our method for simulating the system in very reasonable timescales on a consumer desktop machine by leveraging the power of GPU computing.
Bose-Einstein condensates of ultracold atoms can be used to sense fluctuations of the magnetic field by means of transitions into untrapped hyperfine states. It has been shown recently that counting the outcoupled atoms can yield the power spectrum of the magnetic noise. We calculate the spectral resolution function which characterizes the condensate as a noise measurement device in this scheme. We use the description of the radio-frequency outcoupling scheme of an atom laser which takes into account the gravitational acceleration. Employing both an intuitive and the exact three-dimensional and fully quantum mechanical approach we derive the position-dependent spectral resolution function for condensates of different size and shape.
We study the production of low atom number Fock states by reducing suddenly the potential trap in a 1D strongly interacting (Tonks-Girardeau) gas. The fidelity of the Fock state preparation is characterized by the average and variance of the number of trapped atoms. Two different methods are considered: making the trap shallower (atom culling [A. M. Dudarev {it et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {bf 98}, 063001 (2007)], also termed ``trap weakening here) and making the trap narrower (trap squeezing). When used independently, the efficiency of both procedures is limited as a result of the truncation of the final state in momentum or position space with respect to the ideal atom number state. However, their combination provides a robust and efficient strategy to create ideal Fock states.
We review recent progress at the Centre for Cold Matter in developing atom chips. An important advantage of miniaturizing atom traps on a chip is the possibility of obtaining very tight trapping structures with the capability of manipulating atoms on the micron length scale. We recall some of the pros and cons of bringing atoms close to the chip surface, as is required in order to make small static structures, and we discuss the relative merits of metallic, dielectric and superconducting chip surfaces. We point out that the addition of integrated optical devices on the chip can enhance its capability through single atom detection and controlled photon production. Finally, we review the status of integrated microcavities that have recently been demonstrated at our Centre and discuss their prospects for future development.