Atom Optics on Chips

S. Eriksson, Trupke, M, Powell, H F +8 more

We report on the integration of small-scale optical components into silicon wafers for use in atom chips. We present an on-chip fibre-optic atom detection scheme that can probe clouds with small atom numbers. The fibres can also be used to generate microscopic dipole traps. We describe our most recent results with optical microcavities and show that single-atom detection can be realised on an atom chip. The key components have been fabricated by etching directly into the atom chip silicon substrate.

Shengwang Du

Cameron Straatsma, Megan Ivory, Janet Duggan +3 more

An atom-chip-based integrated optical lattice system for cold and ultracold atom applications is presented. The retroreflection optics necessary for forming the lattice are bonded directly to the atom chip, enabling a compact and robust on-chip optical lattice system. After achieving Bose-Einstein condensation in a magnetic chip trap, we load atoms directly into a vertically oriented 1D optical lattice and demonstrate Landau-Zener tunneling. The atom chip technology presented here can be readily extended to higher dimensional optical lattices.

Chris J. Vale

Sebastian Kraft, Andreas Günther, Philipp Wicke +3 more

Manuel Succo

This thesis introduces the first demonstration of a monolithic, micro-fabricated, multi-channel, optical-waveguide chip to measure ultra-cold atomic clouds. The optics consist of an array of 12 independent junctions, which are separated by only 10 μm and have large atom-photon coupling. The integrated and scalable design is presented, along with an atom chip for mounting the optical waveguide chip and magnetically trapping and handling ultra-cold atoms. The experimental apparatus which was built to accommodate this new chip set is described, along with a new experimental control programme which was developed to accommodate the scalability requirements of the new chip. The chip was optically, mechanically and magnetically characterised and cold atoms with densities up to 10-² μm-³, corresponding to 1 atom at a time inside the waveguide mode, were detected with this new kind of chip using absorption and fluorescence techniques. Subsequently, the atoms were utilised to diagnose light polarisation and intensity within the optical-waveguide chip. For future use, various detection methods adapted to the optical-waveguide chip were considered to minimise photon scattering and thus heating of a trapped ultra-cold sample of atoms.