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Physical Review A

Radio-frequency ac Zeeman force for ultracold atoms

Andrew P. Rotunno, William Miyahira, Shuangli Du, S. Aubin

Published Dec 23, 2024• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We measure the ac Zeeman force acting on ultracold $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms due to a radio frequency (rf) field driving intramanifold Zeeman transitions near 8 MHz. We observe about 2.5 times the force of gravity for $\ensuremath{\approx}14$ mW of rf power acting on atoms $\ensuremath{\approx}100\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\textmu{}\mathrm{m}$ from the atom chip. Our measurements are consistent with theoretical predictions and demonstrate the spin-state dependence of the force, as well as its resonant and bipolar behavior. We demonstrate the ac Stern-Gerlach effect by spatially separating a spin mixture, using initial detuning to determine which spins are ac Zeeman high- and low-field seekers. With an eye towards using this force for atom trapping, we observe the time dependence of dressed state spin mixing as a function of detuning and power.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.110.063321

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We measure the ac Zeeman force acting on ultracold 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms due to a radio frequency (rf) field driving intramanifold Zeeman transitions near 8 MHz. We observe about 2.5 times the force of gravity for \ensuremath≈14\ensuremath{\approx}14\ensuremath≈14 mW of rf power acting on atoms \ensuremath≈100\textmum\ensuremath{\approx}100\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\textmu{}\mathrm{m}\ensuremath≈100\textmum from the atom chip. Our measurements are consistent with theoretical predictions and demonstrate the spin-state dependence of the force, as well as its resonant and bipolar behavior. We demonstrate the ac Stern-Gerlach effect by spatially separating a spin mixture, using initial detuning to determine which spins are ac Zeeman high- and low-field seekers. With an eye towards using this force for atom trapping, we observe the time dependence of dressed state spin mixing as a function of detuning and power.
We measure the ac Zeeman force on an ultracold gas of 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb due to a microwave magnetic field targeted to the 6.8 GHz hyperfine splitting of these atoms. An atom chip produces a microwave near field with a strong amplitude gradient, and we observe a force over three times the strength of gravity. Our measurements are consistent with a simple two-level theory for the ac Zeeman effect and demonstrate its resonant, bipolar, and spin-dependent nature. We observe that the dressed-atom eigenstates gradually mix over time and have mapped out this behavior as a function of magnetic field and detuning. We demonstrate the practical spin selectivity of the force by pushing or pulling a specific spin state while leaving other spin states unmoved.
Ultracold atom experiments use a gas of neutral atoms with temperatures less than 100 µK above absolute zero and offer unmatched experimental control of quantum states and coherence, which has allowed ultracold atom-based measurements to be some of the most precise to date. While ultracold atom experiments can control almost all atomic degrees of freedom, spin-dependent trapping and spatial manipulation has remained difficult if not inaccessible. We are developing a method of spin-dependent trapping and spatial manipulation for ultracold neutral atoms using the AC Zeeman force produced by a microwave magnetic near-field gradient generated by an atom chip. We measure the AC Zeeman force on ultracold rubidium atoms by observing its effect on the motion of atoms in free-fall and on those confined in a trap. We have studied the force as a function of microwave frequency detuning from a hyperfine transition at 6.8 GHz at several magnetic field strengths and have observed its characteristic bipolar and resonant features predicted by two-level dressed atom theory. We find that the force is several times the strength of gravity in our setup, and that it can be targeted to a specific hyperfine transition while leaving other hyperfine states and transitions relatively unaffected. We find that our measurements are reasonably consistent with parameter-free theoretical predictions.
Trapping and manipulating ultracold atoms through the use of atom chips offers the ability to engineer complex electromagnetic field geometries in a compact form factor. One of the primary limitations hindering their use is trap potential roughness which arises as a result of defects in the atom chip wires when atoms are brought close to the chip. This roughness can play a limiting role in atom interferometry and strong 1D confinement experiments. We present an initial experimental demonstration of atom chip potential roughness suppression using radio-frequency (RF) AC Zeeman (ACZ) potentials on an atom chip. Using ∼20 MHz RF magnetic near-fields from the chip to target intra-manifold transitions in the 87Rb ground state, we trap atoms in a spindependent ACZ potential. We compare the axial trapping potential for atoms in comparable 2-wire DC and AC Zeeman traps and show evidence of roughness suppression in the AC trap.
Spin-specific trapping and mechanical control of ultracold atoms is difficult with current techniques, but offers the possibility of exploring new physics systems, such as spin-dependent trapped atom interferometers, as well as quantum gates, 1D many-body spin gases, and novel cooling schemes. Microwave near-field potentials based on the AC Zeeman effect provide a mechanism for such spin-specific control of atoms: in principle, independent potentials can be targeted to different spin states simultaneously. A broadband microwave atom chip can be used to generate both AC Zeeman trapping potentials and a microwave lattice for long distance trap positioning. We present recent experimental results on the successful trapping of ultracold rubidium atoms in an AC Zeeman atom chip trap using RF intra-hyperfine manifold transitions. Notably, these traps suppress the potential roughness encountered in traditional micro-magnetic chip traps.
We evaluate the impact that nonlinear Zeeman shifts have on resonant radio-frequency (RF) dressed traps in an atom-chip configuration. The degeneracy of the resonance between Zeeman levels is lifted at large intensities of a static field, modifying the spatial dependence of the atomic adiabatic potential. In this context, we find effects that are important for the next generation of atom chips with tight trapping: in particular, that the vibrational frequency of the atom trap is sensitive to the RF frequency and, depending on the sign of the Landé factor, can produce significantly weaker, or tighter trapping when compared to the linear regime of the Zeeman effect. We take 87 Rb as an example and find that it is possible for the trapping frequency on F = 1 to exceed that of the F = 2 hyperfine manifold.
We evaluate the impact that nonlinear Zeeman shifts have on resonant radio-frequency (RF) dressed traps in an atom-chip configuration. The degeneracy of the resonance between Zeeman levels is lifted at large intensities of a static field, modifying the spatial dependence of the atomic adiabatic potential. In this context, we find effects that are important for the next generation of atom chips with tight trapping: in particular, that the vibrational frequency of the atom trap is sensitive to the RF frequency and, depending on the sign of the Landé factor, can produce significantly weaker, or tighter trapping when compared to the linear regime of the Zeeman effect. We take 87 Rb as an example and find that it is possible for the trapping frequency on F = 1 to exceed that of the F = 2 hyperfine manifold.