Micro-electromagnet traps for neutral and charged particles in vacuum

Wolfgang Paul

V. Gomer, Oliver Harms, D. Haubrich +5 more

William H. Wing

Marija Drndić, C. S. Lee, Robert M. Westervelt

Three-dimensional (3D) microelectromagnets were developed to control particle motion in electromagnetic-field landscapes in vacuum near a chip. Multiple layers of micrometer-scale conductors separated by transparent insulators create particle containers with deep, symmetric, and time-dependent potentials, suitable for integration in quantum circuits. Single and coupled multiple 3D traps, integrated 3D traps with a mirror, 3D guides for neutral particles with spin, and traps for electrons in vacuum are described.

Tobias Ostermayr

In this section, an introduction to electrodynamic quadrupole traps is given and the experimental realization is presented. The theoretical part is mostly based on textbook knowledge from Major et al. (Charged particle traps, vol 37. Springer, Heidelberg, 2005 [ 6 ]), Werth et al. (Charged particle traps II, vol 54. Springer, Heidelberg, 2009 [ 7 ]).

Bertram M. Schwarzschild

The trapping of charged elementary particles and ions by various electromagnetic field configurations is a well established art. Last month (page 17) we told of a lone electron that was confined for almost a year in the vacuum of a Penning trap, yielding a superbly delicate observation of lowenergy relativistic hysteresis. But the trapping of electrically neutral particles—atoms in particular—is quite another matter. In the absence of the simple Lorentz force acting on a charged particle, one has to reach for a much weaker, second-order handle—the atom's magnetic or induced electric dipole moment. A variety of ingenious magnetic and laser traps have been proposed for atoms, but they all suffer a severe limitation: The weak dipole interaction with the trapping field yields only very shallow trapping potential wells, generally incapable of holding an atom moving much faster than a man can run—about 10 meters/second.