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Physical Review A

Guiding and trapping a neutral atom on a wire

Jörg Schmiedmayer

Published Jul 1, 1995• 96 citations
Publisher

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.52.r13

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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.
We consider a waveguide for cold neutral atoms with a magnetic moment proportional to their spin angular momentum. The waveguide consists of a thin wire carrying a constant current. For the spin-1 case, we find bound states for the two-dimensional part of the motion around the wire, and present numerical and approximate analytic results for these bound states. In an experiment, the bound states can decay due to various effects, and we calculate the time scales involved. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Laser-cooled neutral atoms from a low-velocity atomic source are guided via a magnetic field generated between two parallel wires on a glass substrate. The atoms bend around three curves, each with a 15-cm radius of curvature, while traveling along a 10-cm-long track. A maximum flux of $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\mathrm{atoms}/\mathrm{sec}$ is achieved with a current density of $3\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{4}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}\mathrm{A}/{\mathrm{cm}}^{2}$ in the $100\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}100$- $\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$-cross-section wires. The kinetic energy of the guided atoms in one transverse dimension is measured to be $42\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{K}$.
We demonstrate the guiding of neutral atoms with two parallel microfabricated current-carrying wires on the atom chip and a vertical magnetic bias field. The atoms are guided along a magnetic field minimum parallel to the current-carrying wires and confined in the other two directions. We describe in detail how the precooled atoms are efficiently loaded into the two-wire guide. We present a detailed experimental study of the motional properties of the atoms in the guide and the relationship between the location of the guide and the vertical bias field. This two-wire guide with vertical bias field can be used to realize large area atom interferometer.