An atom-chip-based integrated optical lattice system for cold and ultracold atom applications is presented. The retroreflection optics necessary for forming the lattice are bonded directly to the atom chip, enabling a compact and robust on-chip optical lattice system. After achieving Bose-Einstein condensation in a magnetic chip trap, we load atoms directly into a vertically oriented 1D optical lattice and demonstrate Landau-Zener tunneling. The atom chip technology presented here can be readily extended to higher dimensional optical lattices.
An atom-chip-based integrated optical lattice system for cold and ultracold atom applications is presented. The retroreflection optics necessary for forming the lattice are bonded directly to the atom chip, enabling a compact and robust on-chip optical lattice system. After achieving Bose-Einstein condensation in a magnetic chip trap, we load atoms directly into a vertically oriented 1D optical lattice and demonstrate Landau-Zener tunneling. The atom chip technology presented here can be readily extended to higher dimensional optical lattices.
To simplify applications that rely on optical trapping of cold and ultracold atoms, ColdQuanta is developing techniques to incorporate miniature optical components onto in-vacuum atom chips. The result is a hybrid atom chip that combines an in-vacuum micro-optical bench for optical control with an atom chip for magnetic control. Placing optical components on a chip inside of the vacuum system produces a compact system that can be targeted to specific experiments, in this case the generation of optical lattices. Applications that can benefit from this technology include timekeeping, inertial sensing, gravimetry, quantum information, and emulation of quantum many-body systems. ColdQuanta’s GlasSi atom chip technology incorporates glass windows in the plane of a silicon atom chip. In conjunction with the in-vacuum micro-optical bench, optical lattices can be generated within a few hundred microns of an atom chip window through which single atomic lattice sites can be imaged with sub-micron spatial resolution. The result is a quantum gas microscope that allows optical lattices to be studied at the level of single lattice sites. Similar to what ColdQuanta has achieved with magneto-optical traps (MOTs) in its miniMOT system and with Bose- Einstein condensates (BECs) in its RuBECi(R) system, ColdQuanta seeks to apply the on-chip optical bench technology to studies of optical lattices in a commercially available, turnkey system. These techniques are currently being considered for lattice experiments in NASA’s Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) slated for flight on the International Space Station.
Optical dipole traps and atom chips are two very powerful tools for the quantum manipulation of neutral atoms. We demonstrate that both methods can be combined by creating an optical lattice potential on an atom chip. A red-detuned laser beam is retroreflected using the atom chip surface as a high-quality mirror, generating a vertical array of purely optical oblate traps. We transfer thermal atoms from the chip into the lattice and observe cooling into the two-dimensional regime. Using a chip-generated Bose-Einstein condensate, we demonstrate coherent Bloch oscillations in the lattice.
The sensitivity of ultracold-atom sensors has great potential for on-board applications, but achieving this precision outside the laboratory requires a robust, compact atom source. This work presents a hybrid atom chip that combines two techniques to simplify the cold-atom source: optical gratings for single-beam laser cooling and conductive microcircuits for tight magnetic confinement. This hybrid configuration also achieves Bose-Einstein condensation. This research paves the way for integrating more advanced features into atomic chips with applications in atomic interferometry and atomtronics.
An array of square current-carrying wires is proposed to construct a two-dimensional (2D) array of surface magneto-optical traps and Ioffe magnetic ones for realizing a 2D lattice of Bose-Einstein condensations (BECs) on an atom chip. Our study shows that when a vertical homogeneous bias magnetic field is only used, the wires will form a 2D array of quadrupole magnetic traps, which can be used to construct 2D lattice of surface magneto-optical micro-traps. While another horizontal homogeneous bias field is added simultaneously, the above 2D array of quadrupole micro-traps will be changed as an array of surface Ioffe micro-traps, which can be used to form a 2D magnetic lattice and then realize a 2D array of BECs. The dynamic loading process of cold (87)Rb atoms from each micro-MOT into Ioffe micro-trap is studied by using Monte-Carlo simulations, and our results show that the scheme can be used to realize a natural and effective loading of cold atoms from 2D array of micro-MOTs into 2D array of Ioffe micro-traps, and the loading efficiency can be reach ~ 65%. Moreover, the positions of each BEC (or MOT) in 2D array of magnetic micro-traps can be controlled by adjusting the currents in the wires or by changing the additional vertical bias field.
Atom optics has been a highly active field of research with many scientific breakthroughs over the past two decades, largely due to successful advances in laser technology, microfabrication techniques, and the development of laser cooling and trapping of neutral atoms. This dissertation details several atom optics experiments with the motivation to develop tools and techniques for precision atom wave interferometry. It provides background information about atom optics and the fundamentals behind laser cooling and trapping, including basic techniques for cold gas thermometry and absorptive detection of atoms. A brief overview of magnetic trapping and guiding in tight wire-based traps is also provided before the experimental details are presented. ❧ We developed a novel laser source of 780 nm light using frequency-doubled 1560 nm fiber amplifier. This laser system provided up to a Watt of tunable frequency stabilized light for two Rb laser cooling and trapping experiments. One system generates Bose-Einstein condensates in an optical trap while the second is based on atom chip magnetic traps. The atom chip system, detailed in this thesis, was designed and built to develop the tools necessary for transport and loading large numbers of cold atoms and explore the potential for guided atom interferometry. Techniques and results from this experiment are presented, including an efficient magnetic transport and loading method to deliver cold atom to atom chip traps. We also developed a modeling tool for the magnetic fields formed by coiled wire geometries, as well as planar wire patterns. These models helped us design traps and determine adiabatic transportation of cold atoms between macro-scale traps and micro-traps formed on atom chips. Having achieved near unity transfer efficiency, we demonstrated that this approach promises to be a consistent method for loading large numbers of atoms into micro-traps. Furthermore, we discuss an in situ imaging technique to investigate magnetic field contours of the traps and the dynamics of atoms within those confining potentials. We also controlled the propagation along the atom chip guides by accelerating atoms with longitudinal magnetic gradients, and investigated an atom focusing scheme. ❧ While the atom chip wire guides perform a role analogous to optical fibers guiding light waves, ""free space"" cold atoms offer great opportunity for precision interferometry. We describe a second on-going atom optics experiment that measures gravity gradients using a pair of atom fountain interferometers separated by one meter. We have demonstrated Gravity Gradiometer resolution down to 4x10⁻⁹ g/m using a 40 kg test mass. The atomic physics subsystem is described in detail, including the vacuum, cold atom source, optics, magnetic coils and shields, and vibration isolation and compensation. The system is designed to be a compact, robust, transportable instrument, taking strides towards future gravity gradient measurements in the field. In the realm of space applications, there has been interest for micro-gravity science experiments aboard the International Space Station, along with instrument development for gravity mapping of Earth and planetary bodies with satellite-based instruments. Furthermore, there are ground-based applications for gravity imaging of local density distributions, precision measurement of gravity, as well as proposals for redefining the kilogram, detecting gravitational waves and determining the Gravitational constant.
Compact, robust ultracold atomic sources are essential for onboard quantum sensors with applications in inertial sensing and geodesy. However, producing ultracold atoms like Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) increases the complexity of the system and often involves low production rates and high power consumption. Atom chips [1] offer rapid ultracold atom production through tight magnetic traps and are compatible with onboard experiments [2]. To address challenges such as optical beam alignment, grating magneto-optical traps (GMOTs) [3] have been developed, facilitating miniaturization of atomic clocks [4] and atom interferometers [5].