A wire trap for neutral atoms

Johannes Hecker Denschlag, Donatella Cassettari, A. Chenet +2 more

J. A. Sauer, M. D. Barrett, David Zhu +1 more

Jörg Schmiedmayer

Jörg Schmiedmayer

A neutral atom with a magnetic moment can be bound to a current carrying wire. The atom is trapped in the high-field-seeking state and stabilized by angular momentum. In an atomic-beam experiment the guiding of Na atoms along a 1-m-long, 150-\ensuremath{\mu}m-diam, current carrying, tungsten wire is demonstrated. By adding a charged ring around the wire one can create a three-dimensional microscopic trap for neutral atoms. These traps confine the atoms in the lowest-energy spin state.

Mukund Vengalattore, Mara Goff Prentiss

David C. Aveline, Robert J. Thompson, Nathan E. Lundblad +3 more

We describe a method of efficiently loading and manipulating neutral atoms in atom chip traps. Cooled87Rb from a MOT is transported via coil-based magnetic traps into chip-based wire traps and precisely directed in wire-guides.