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Physics Today

Three magnetic devices for atom optics

Philip F. Schewe

Published Feb 1, 2001• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Have been demonstrated: a beam splitter, a conveyor belt, and a switch. Just as electrons drive electronics and photons drive photonics, many researchers hope that cold, neutral atoms will drive a future “atomtronics.” To process information, atoms will need to be manipulated on or near an “atom chip” using atom-based analogs of mirrors, lenses, waveguides, gratings, and other devices. The new devices reported here all exploit the interaction between a neutral atom’s magnetic moment and an external magnetic field with a gradient strong enough to create microscopic potentials. Jörg Schmiedmayer of the University of Heidelberg and his colleagues have designed a beam splitter for guided atoms, using a Y-shaped current-carrying wire nanofabricated on a surface. Depending on how current is sent through the Y, atoms can be directed to the output arms with any desired ratio. A group at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Munich has been able to confine atom clouds in separate potential wells and transport them with 800-nm precision near a surface having time-dependent currents in a lithographically patterned conductor. The researchers have used their “magnetic conveyor belt” to merge separate clouds; their evidence shows that the process is adiabatic and can be reversed to coherently split wavepackets. Also using lithography, and following their own beam splitter, a group at the University of Colorado and NIST in Boulder has devised a switch that can direct a guided beam of neutral atoms to either of two output ports separated by 8 mm. Both the incoming and outgoing atoms are guided between two parallel wires having current flowing in the same direction. In the switch region, the atoms are guided alongside two wires with oppositely flowing current. (D. Cassettari et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 5483, 2000 http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.5483 . W. Hänsel et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 608, 2001 http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.608 . D. Müller et al., Opt. Lett. 25, 1382, 2000 http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OL.25.001382 ; D. Müller et al., Phys. Rev. A , in press.)© 2001 American Institute of Physics.

DOI
10.1063/1.2405603

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Have been demonstrated: a beam splitter, a conveyor belt, and a switch. Just as electrons drive electronics and photons drive photonics, many researchers hope that cold, neutral atoms will drive a future “atomtronics.” To process information, atoms will need to be manipulated on or near an “atom chip” using atom-based analogs of mirrors, lenses, waveguides, gratings, and other devices. The new devices reported here all exploit the interaction between a neutral atom’s magnetic moment and an external magnetic field with a gradient strong enough to create microscopic potentials. Jörg Schmiedmayer of the University of Heidelberg and his colleagues have designed a beam splitter for guided atoms, using a Y-shaped current-carrying wire nanofabricated on a surface. Depending on how current is sent through the Y, atoms can be directed to the output arms with any desired ratio. A group at the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Munich has been able to confine atom clouds in separate potential wells and transport them with 800-nm precision near a surface having time-dependent currents in a lithographically patterned conductor. The researchers have used their “magnetic conveyor belt” to merge separate clouds; their evidence shows that the process is adiabatic and can be reversed to coherently split wavepackets. Also using lithography, and following their own beam splitter, a group at the University of Colorado and NIST in Boulder has devised a switch that can direct a guided beam of neutral atoms to either of two output ports separated by 8 mm. Both the incoming and outgoing atoms are guided between two parallel wires having current flowing in the same direction. In the switch region, the atoms are guided alongside two wires with oppositely flowing current. (D. Cassettari et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 5483, 2000 http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.5483 . W. Hänsel et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 608, 2001 http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.608 . D. Müller et al., Opt. Lett. 25, 1382, 2000 http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OL.25.001382 ; D. Müller et al., Phys. Rev. A , in press.)© 2001 American Institute of Physics.
We present a toolbox for cold atom manipulation with time-dependent magnetic fields generated by an atom chip. Wire layouts, detailed experimental procedures and results are presented for the following experiments: use of a magnetic conveyor belt for positioning of cold atoms and Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) with a potential resolution of 2 nm; splitting of thermal clouds and BECs in adjustable magnetic double-well potentials; and controlled splitting of a cold reservoir. The devices that enable these manipulations can be combined with each other. We demonstrate this by combining reservoir splitter and conveyor belt to obtain a cold atom dispenser. We discuss the importance of these devices for quantum information processing, atom interferometry and Josephson junction physics on the chip. For all devices, absorption-image video sequences are provided to demonstrate their time-dependent behaviour.
Several techniques for manipulating neutral atoms (more precisely, ultracold clouds of neutral atoms) in chip-based magnetic traps and atomic waveguides have been demonstrated. Such traps and waveguides are promising components of future quantum sensors that would offer sensitivities much greater than those of conventional sensors. Potential applications include gyroscopy and basic research in physical phenomena that involve gravitational and/or electromagnetic fields. The developed techniques make it possible to control atoms with greater versatility and dexterity than were previously possible and, hence, can be expected to contribute to the value of chip-based magnetic traps and atomic waveguides. The basic principle of these techniques is to control gradient magnetic fields with suitable timing so as to alter a trap to exert position-, velocity-, and/or time-dependent forces on atoms in the trap to obtain desired effects. The trap magnetic fields are generated by controlled electric currents flowing in both macroscopic off-chip electromagnet coils and microscopic wires on the surface of the chip. The methods are best explained in terms of examples. Rather than simply allowing atoms to expand freely into an atomic waveguide, one can give them a controllable push by switching on an externally generated or a chip-based gradient magnetic field. This push can increase the speed of the atoms, typically from about 5 to about 20 cm/s. Applying a non-linear magnetic-field gradient exerts different forces on atoms in different positions a phenomenon that one can exploit by introducing a delay between releasing atoms into the waveguide and turning on the magnetic field.
We present a toolbox for cold atom manipulation with time-dependent magnetic fields generated by an atom chip. Wire layouts, detailed experimental procedures and results are presented for the following experiments: Use of a magnetic conveyor belt for positioning of cold atoms and Bose-Einstein condensates with a resolution of two nanometers; splitting of thermal clouds and BECs in adjustable magnetic double well potentials; controlled splitting of a cold reservoir. The devices that enable these manipulations can be combined with each other. We demonstrate this by combining reservoir splitter and conveyor belt to obtain a cold atom dispenser. We discuss the importance of these devices for quantum information processing, atom interferometry and Josephson junction physics on the chip. For all devices, absorption-image video sequences are provided to demonstrate their time-dependent behaviour.
For the last decade it has been possible to cool atoms to microkelvin temperatures (~1 cm s -1 ) using a variety of optical techniques. Light beams provide the very strong frictional forces required to slow atoms from room temperature (~500 m s -1 ). However, once the atoms are cold, the relatively weak conservative forces of static electric and magnetic fields play an important role. In our group we have been studying the interaction of cold rubidium atoms with periodically magnetized data storage media. Here we review the underlying principles of the forces acting on atoms above a suitably magnetized substrate or near current-carrying wires. We also summarize the status of experiments. These structures can be used as smooth or corrugated reflectors for controlling the trajectories of cold atoms. Alternatively, they may be used to confine atoms to a plane, a line, or a dot and in some cases to reach the quantum limit of confinement. Atoms levitated above a magnetized surface can be guided electrostatically by wires deposited on the surface. The flow and interaction of atoms in such a structure may form the basis of a new technology, `integrated atom optics' which might ultimately be capable of realizing a quantum computer.