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arXiv:cond-mat/0605302 · Physical Review A

Transport of atom packets in a train of Ioffe-Pritchard traps

Thierry Lahaye, Gael Reinaudi, Z. Wang, A. Couvert, David Guéry-Odelin

Published Sep 28, 2006• 21 citations
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Abstract

We demonstrate transport and evaporative cooling of several atomic clouds in a chain of magnetic Ioffe-Pritchard traps moving at a low speed $(<1\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{m}∕\mathrm{s})$. The trapping scheme relies on the use of a magnetic guide for transverse confinement and of magnets fixed on a conveyor belt for longitudinal trapping. This experiment introduces a different approach for parallelizing the production of Bose-Einstein condensates as well as for the realization of a continuous atom laser.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.74.033622

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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics•Nov 27, 2002•0 citations
We demonstrate transport and evaporative cooling of several atomic clouds in a chain of magnetic Ioffe-Pritchard traps moving at a low speed (<1m∕s)(<1\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{m}∕\mathrm{s})(<1m∕s). The trapping scheme relies on the use of a magnetic guide for transverse confinement and of magnets fixed on a conveyor belt for longitudinal trapping. This experiment introduces a different approach for parallelizing the production of Bose-Einstein condensates as well as for the realization of a continuous atom laser.
We demonstrate an integrated magnetic ``atom chip'' which transports cold trapped atoms near a surface with very high positioning accuracy. Time-dependent currents in a lithographic conductor pattern create a moving chain of magnetic potential wells; atoms are transported in these wells while remaining confined in all three dimensions. We achieve fluxes up to 10^6 /s with a negligible heating rate. An extension of this ``atomic conveyor belt'' allows the merging of magnetically trapped atom clouds by unification of two Ioffe-Pritchard potentials. Under suitable conditions, the clouds merge without loss of phase space density. We demonstrate this unification process experimentally.
We demonstrate efficient loading of neutral atoms into a magnetic waveguide produced by the magnetic fields of microfabricated current-carrying conductors. The lithographically patterned conductors on this ``atom chip'' can be used to make a variety of guiding and trapping structures for manipulating cold atoms and Bose-Einstein condensates. A three-chamber vacuum apparatus collects atoms in a magneto-optical trap, precools them via evaporative cooling, and delivers them to the final chamber containing the atom chip. We describe in detail how the precooled atomic cloud is transferred from a macroscopic magnetic Ioffe-Pritchard trap to the microscopic magnetic waveguide on the atom chip 21cm21\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{cm}21cm away. Permanent magnets provide a confining two-dimensional quadrupole field to guide the atoms between the two chambers while longitudinally the cloud is allowed to freely expand during the transfer. Strategically placed coils are used to control the longitudinal size and speed of the atomic cloud as it is loaded on the atom chip.
We demonstrate Bose-Einstein condensation of rubidium atoms in a simple low-power magnetic trap. This trap combines the quadrupole with the Ioffe configuration (QUIC trap) and consists of just three coils. Magneto-optically trapped 87Rb{}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms are first loaded into the linear trapping potential of a magnetic quadrupole, which is then converted into the parabolic geometry of an Ioffe trap. During this process two spherical quadrupole traps with perpendicular axes merge and the trapped atomic cloud moves close to the magnetic field producing coils, resulting in tight confinement of the atoms while the power dissipation of the trap remains low. The magnetically trapped atoms are cooled to below the phase transition of Bose-Einstein condensation by rf-induced evaporation.
We demonstrate an integrated magnetic device which transports cold atoms near a surface with very high positioning accuracy. Time-dependent currents in a lithographic conductor pattern create a moving chain of potential wells; atoms are transported in these wells while remaining confined in all three dimensions. We achieve mean fluxes up to 10(6) s(-1) with a negligible heating rate. An extension of this device allows merging of atom clouds by unification of two Ioffe-Pritchard potentials. The unification, which we demonstrate experimentally, can be performed without loss of phase space density. This novel, all-magnetic atom manipulation offers exciting perspectives, such as trapped-atom interferometry.
We demonstrate Bose-Einstein condensation of rubidium atoms in a simple low-power magnetic trap. This trap combines the quadrupole with the Ioffe configuration ~QUIC trap! and consists of just three coils. Magneto-optically trapped Rb atoms are first loaded into the linear trapping potential of a magnetic quadrupole, which is then converted into the parabolic geometry of an Ioffe trap. During this process two spherical quadrupole traps with perpendicular axes merge and the trapped atomic cloud moves close to the magnetic field producing coils, resulting in tight confinement of the atoms while the power dissipation of the trap remains low. The magnetically trapped atoms are cooled to below the phase transition of Bose-Einstein condensation by rf-induced evaporation. @S1050-2947~98!51210-3#
Summary form only given.Since its first observation in 1995, Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) experiments in dilute gases have been performed with only a few different kinds of magnetic traps. We have performed a BEC experiment with /sup 87/Rb atoms in a Ioffe-Pritchard magnetic potential, which opens up the possibility to study, e.g., Bose-Einstein condensates released in only one dimension. Our trap consists of a clip-like coil, which generates a pure two-dimensional (2D) quadrupole field for radial confinement. The axial confinement is provided by two plane pinch coils inside the clip-coil. These two coils create a bottle field. Two additional Helmholtz coils on the same symmetry axis are used to compensate the homogeneous part of the bottle field. By continuously varying the currents through the coils, the trapping potential can be changed from a 3D spherical harmonic to a 2D linear potential. The change can be done adiabatically or nonadiabatically by switching off the axial confinement slowly, or instantaneously respectively. This opens up the possibility to study 1D nonlinear atom optics. In combination with, e.g., far detuned light sheets, a Fabry-Perot type interferometer for a condensate might be realizable. Our experiments are performed in a vacuum system with two magneto-optical traps, which serves as the source of cold atoms for the magnetic trap. 10/sup 9/ atoms are captured in less than one minute. RF-induced evaporative cooling is used to increase the phase space density of the trapped atomic cloud. The BEC phase transition occurs at a temperature of 550 nK with 10/sup 6/ particles in the trap. Pure condensates with more than 10/sup 5/ atoms were produced.