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Physical Review Letters

Atomic Deflection Using an Adaptive Microelectromagnet Mirror

Kent S. Johnson, Marija Drndić, Joseph H. Thywissen, Gary Zabow, Robert M. Westervelt, Mara Goff Prentiss

Published Aug 10, 1998• 44 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We have deflected a beam of metastable helium atoms using the inhomogeneous magnetic field above a microfabricated electromagnet mirror. The mirror consisted of a single current-carrying wire in a periodic serpentine pattern on a planar sapphire substrate. A time-dependent current (and magnetic field) synchronized with a pulsed thermal atomic beam was used to compensate for the chromaticity of the deflection. The freedom to fabricate a wide variety of geometries and to employ time-dependent fields make microelectromagnets promising new tools for atom manipulation.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.81.1137

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We have deflected a beam of metastable helium atoms using the inhomogeneous magnetic field above a microfabricated electromagnet mirror. The mirror consisted of a single current-carrying wire in a periodic serpentine pattern on a planar sapphire substrate. A time-dependent current (and magnetic field) synchronized with a pulsed thermal atomic beam was used to compensate for the chromaticity of the deflection. The freedom to fabricate a wide variety of geometries and to employ time-dependent fields make microelectromagnets promising new tools for atom manipulation.
Micro-electromagnets for atom manipulation have been constructed, including magnetic mirrors (serpentine patterns) and traps (circular patterns). They consist of planar micron-scale Au wires on sapphire substrates fabricated using lithography and electroplating. At liquid nitrogen or helium temperatures in vacuum the wires support currents of several amperes with current density ∼108 A/cm2 and power dissipation ∼10 kW/cm2, and they produce magnetic fields to 0.3 T and gradients to 103 T/cm. The micro-electromagnet mirror was used to deflect a beam of metastable helium atoms at grazing angles ∼0.5 mrad.
We report recent progress on the development of magnetic mirrors for reflecting beams of slowly moving neutral atoms. Different approaches for constructing periodic magnetic structures with micron-scale periodicities are described, including the use of arrays of current-carrying wires fabricated by photolithography, grooved ferromagnetic structures fabricated by electron-beam lithography, and magnetic structures recorded on magneto-optical film by a focused diode laser beam. Results on the reflection of free-falling laser-cooled caesium atoms from these microfabricated magnetic mirrors are presented.
Cryogenically cooled microelectromagnet mirrors were used to reflect a cloud of free-falling laser-cooled 85Rb{}^{85}\mathrm{Rb}85Rb atoms at normal incidence. The mirrors consisted of microfabricated current-carrying Au wires in a periodic serpentine pattern on a sapphire substrate. The fluorescence from the atomic cloud was imaged after it had bounced off a mirror. The transverse width of the cloud reached a local minimum at an optimal current corresponding to minimum mirror roughness. A distinct increase in roughness was found for mirror configurations with an even versus odd number of lines. These observations confirm theoretical predictions.
We describe manipulation of neutral atoms using the magnetic field of microfabricated current-carrying conductors. It is shown how this method can be used to achieve adiabatic magnetic transport from one reservoir to another. In the first experimental realization of a microfabricated magnetic neutral-atom trap, efficient loading is achieved with a novel mirror-magneto-optic trap. A cloud of rubidium atoms is stored and compressed using the magnetic field of a ``U''-shaped wire carrying a current of 2 A. An evaporation mechanism is demonstrated which removes hot atoms from the trap by collisions with the substrate surface.
We report preliminary results on the deflection of a beam of ultra-cold atoms by a static magnetic field. Caesium atoms trapped in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) are cooled using optical molasses, and then fall freely under gravity to form a beam of ultra-cold atoms. The atoms pass through a static inhomogeneous magnetic field produced by a single current-carrying wire, and are deflected by a force ?(µB) dependent on the magnetic substate of the atom. The population of atoms in various magnetic substates can be altered by using resonant laser radiation to optically pump the atoms.