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arXiv:physics/0510076 · Physical Review A

Adiabatic radio-frequency potentials for the coherent manipulation of matter waves

Igor Lesanovsky, Thorsten Schumm, Sebastian Hofferberth, L. Mauritz Andersson, P. Krüger, Jörg Schmiedmayer

Published Mar 23, 2006• 158 citations
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Abstract

Adiabatic dressed state potentials are created when magnetic substates of trapped atoms are coupled by a radio-frequency field. We discuss their theoretical foundations and point out fundamental advantages over potentials purely based on static fields. The enhanced flexibility enables one to implement numerous configurations, including double wells, Mach-Zehnder, and Sagnac interferometers which even allows for internal state-dependent atom manipulation. These can be realized using simple and highly integrated wire geometries on atom chips.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.73.033619

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Adiabatic dressed state potentials are created when magnetic substates of trapped atoms are coupled by a radio-frequency field. We discuss their theoretical foundations and point out fundamental advantages over potentials purely based on static fields. The enhanced flexibility enables one to implement numerous configurations, including double wells, Mach-Zehnder, and Sagnac interferometers which even allows for internal state-dependent atom manipulation. These can be realized using simple and highly integrated wire geometries on atom chips.
The manipulation of ultracold atoms in radio-frequency (RF)-dressed potentials offers unique advantages over static magnetic traps, such as the ability to create more complex potential landscapes, better control of atomic states, and increased robustness to environmental noise. Among the accessible geometries, ring traps are particularly promising for atomic Sagnac interferometers, which can be used to measure rotational motion with high sensitivity. Here, the authors demonstrate the state-dependent transport of atoms in an RF-dressed ring trap on an atom chip. By exploiting the polarization-dependent coupling of RF fields to different atomic hyperfine states, the authors achieve controlled transport of atoms in opposite directions. This approach targets the development of compact, high-precision devices for applications in inertial navigation and rotation sensing.
We explore properties of atoms whose magnetic hyperfine sublevels are coupled by an external magnetic radio frequency (rf) field. We perform a thorough theoretical analysis of this driven system and present a number of systematic approximations which eventually give rise to dressed adiabatic radio frequency potentials. The predictions of this analytical investigation are compared to numerically exact results obtained by a wave packet propagation. We outline the versatility and flexibility of this class of potentials and demonstrate their potential use to build atom optical elements such as double wells, interferometers, and ringtraps. Moreover, we perform simulations of interference experiments carried out in rf induced double-well potentials. We discuss how the nature of the atom-field coupling mechanism gives rise to a decrease of the interference contrast.
During this thesis a novel trapping and manipulation technique for neutral atoms on atom chips has been developed and experimentally implemented. Radio-frequency (rf) coupling of internal states of magnetically trapped atoms results in versatile microscopic potentials, which overcome various limitations of static magnetic traps. An extensive experimental analysis of this new technique has been carried out, exploring the state-dependency of the rf potentials and the possible realization of non-trivial trapping geometries. Based on these results, the first coherent matter wave beam splitter on an atom chip has been realized, demonstrating for the first time the all-magnetic coherent splitting of a condensate. This new atom optical tool has then been applied to investigate the phase-properties of one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates. The potential configuration developed during this thesis provides direct access to the phase fluctuations in the system and has allowed the first time-resolved study of equilibrium properties and non-equilibrium dynamics in a one-dimensional Bose gas.
A combination of static and oscillating magnetic fields can be used to 'dress' atoms with radiofrequency (RF), or microwave, radiation.The spatial variation of these fields can be used to create an enormous variety of traps for ultra-cold atoms and quantum gases.This article reviews the type and character of these adiabatic traps and the applications which include atom interferometry and the study of low-dimensional quantum systems.We introduce the main concepts of magnetic traps leading to adiabatic dressed traps.The concept of adiabaticity is discussed in the context of the Landau-Zener model.The first bubble trap experiment is reviewed together with the method used for loading it.Experiments based on atom chips show the production of double wells and ring traps.Dressed atom traps can be evaporatively cooled with an additional RF field, and a weak RF field can be used to probe the spectroscopy of the adiabatic potentials.Several approaches to ring traps formed from adiabatic potentials are discussed, including those based on atom chips, time-averaged adiabatic potentials and induction methods.Several proposals for adiabatic lattices with dressed atoms are also reviewed.
We present the first experimental demonstration of a multiple radio-frequency dressed potential for the configurable magnetic confinement of ultracold atoms. We load cold 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb atoms into a double-well potential with an adjustable barrier height, formed by three radio-frequencies applied to atoms in a static quadrupole magnetic field. Our multiple radio-frequency approach gives precise control over the double-well characteristics, including the depth of individual wells and the height of the barrier, and enables reliable transfer of atoms between the available trapping geometries. We characterize the multiple radio-frequency dressed system using radio-frequency spectroscopy, finding good agreement with the eigenvalues numerically calculated using Floquet theory. This method creates trapping potentials that can be reconfigured by changing the amplitudes, polarizations, and frequencies of the applied dressing fields and easily extended with additional dressing frequencies.
The process of atomic interferometry relies heavily on the underlying atomic manipulation methods that have been developed over the past few decades. The ability to manipulate the internal state dynamics of atoms, and precisely control their time-space co-ordinates both lend themselves to the improvement of the sensitivities of these devices, allowing for more precise measurements, and more in-depth exploration of the physical world. In this thesis the design of a state-dependent fully trapped interferometric transport is presented, wherein atoms are fully magnetically trapped for the entire duration of an interferometric sequence. Through use of Radio-Frequency dressed potentials, we are able to create a trapping system that is both robust, and able to create state-dependent trap that can be dynamically moved to create the mechanical basis for an interferometer. We also investigate the coherence time of a superposition of hyperfine states loaded into the interferometer, necessary for a Ramsey-Borde sequence, and find it is significantly lower than what would be required to perform interferometry. We then present how this lack in coherence time is due to a mismatch in trapping potentials that arises due to a slight discrepancy between gyromagnetic ratios in the two superpositional states. This mismatch broadens the transition linewidth, leading to a reduction in superposition coherence time. Finally, we lay out the theoretical groundwork, and experimental progress, in realising Microwave-Dressed potentials, which utilise the AC-Stark shift to adiabatically shift the trapping potentials of the atoms, reducing the mismatch and thus increasing the coherence time of the superposition.