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arXiv:physics/9807037 · Acta Physica Slovaca Reviews and Tutorials

A magnetic guide for cold atoms

James T. Richmond, Síle Nic Chormaic, B. P. Cantwell, G. I. Opat

Published Jul 22, 1998• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose a novel method for guiding cold, neutral atoms using static magnetic fields. A theoretical study of the magnetic field produced by a tube consisting of two identical, interwound solenoids carrying equal but opposite currents is presented. This field is almost zero throughout the centre of the tube, but it increases with exponential rapidity as one approaches the walls formed by the current carrying wires. Hence, cold atoms passing through the tube may be reflected by magnetic mirror effects near the walls. Applying this technique to a free-falling cloud of magneto-optically cooled caesium atoms we hope to construct atomic guides to facilitate the manipulation of cold atomic beams.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.physics/9807037

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We propose a novel method for guiding cold, neutral atoms using static magnetic fields. A theoretical study of the magnetic field produced by a tube consisting of two identical, interwound solenoids carrying equal but opposite currents is presented. This field is almost zero throughout the centre of the tube, but it increases with exponential rapidity as one approaches the walls formed by the current carrying wires. Hence, cold atoms passing through the tube may be reflected by magnetic mirror effects near the walls. Applying this technique to a free-falling cloud of magneto-optically cooled caesium atoms we hope to construct atomic guides to facilitate the manipulation of cold atomic beams.
A solenoid consisting of two interwound helical coils carrying equal but opposite currents can act as a guide for neutral atoms. In this paper we develop the theory of such a guide and report on its performance in guiding laser-cooled cesium atoms. Our guide is a useful tool for transporting cooled atoms since it prevents ballistic expansion of the atomic cloud after it is released from a magneto-optical trap. In contrast to atom-guide designs using permanent magnets, our guide can be switched off by switching the currents; hence it can be placed close to a magnetic trap without adversely affecting the trapping efficiency. One of the unique features of this guide is that, except in the immediate neighborhood of the walls of the guide, the atoms are not magnetically perturbed to any appreciable extent by the guide field. This opens up the possibility of a system for cooling atoms.
For the last decade it has been possible to cool atoms to microkelvin temperatures (~1 cm s -1 ) using a variety of optical techniques. Light beams provide the very strong frictional forces required to slow atoms from room temperature (~500 m s -1 ). However, once the atoms are cold, the relatively weak conservative forces of static electric and magnetic fields play an important role. In our group we have been studying the interaction of cold rubidium atoms with periodically magnetized data storage media. Here we review the underlying principles of the forces acting on atoms above a suitably magnetized substrate or near current-carrying wires. We also summarize the status of experiments. These structures can be used as smooth or corrugated reflectors for controlling the trajectories of cold atoms. Alternatively, they may be used to confine atoms to a plane, a line, or a dot and in some cases to reach the quantum limit of confinement. Atoms levitated above a magnetized surface can be guided electrostatically by wires deposited on the surface. The flow and interaction of atoms in such a structure may form the basis of a new technology, `integrated atom optics' which might ultimately be capable of realizing a quantum computer.
This thesis presents the first demonstration of a guide for cold atoms based on a miniature structure of four current-carrying wires. The four wires are embedded within a hollow silica fibre. Atoms are guided along the centre of a fifth hole on the axis of the fibre by the Stern-Gerlach force. A vapour cell Magneto Optical Trap (MOT), formed 1 cm above the mouth of the waveguide is the source of cold "8"5Rb atoms. After cooling the atoms to 25 #mu#K in optical molasses they fall under the influence of gravity through a magnetic funnel into the waveguide. After propagating for 2 cm, the atoms are reflected by the field of a small pinch coil wound around the base of the guide. The atoms then travel back up the fibre and out into the funnel, where they can be imaged either in fluorescence or by recapturing in the MOT. A video sequence of atoms falling into the guide and re-emerging after reflection from the pinch coil graphically illustrates the operation of the guide. The coupling efficiency and transverse temperature of the atoms is measured experimentally and in a Monte-Carlo simulation. We find an optimum coupling efficiency of 12% and we measure the spatial extent of the cloud within the fibre to be of order 100 #mu#m. We find good agreement between experimental data and results from the numerical simulation. We have also been able to observe different thresholds for the reflection of different positive m_F levels. In another experiment we are able to trap the atoms in an elongated Ioffe trap for up to two seconds, increasing the distance over which the atoms are guided. We are able to guide the atoms over distances of 40 cm with a loss rate indistinguishable from the free space loss rate. (author)
We report preliminary results on the deflection of a beam of ultra-cold atoms by a static magnetic field. Caesium atoms trapped in a magneto-optical trap (MOT) are cooled using optical molasses, and then fall freely under gravity to form a beam of ultra-cold atoms. The atoms pass through a static inhomogeneous magnetic field produced by a single current-carrying wire, and are deflected by a force ?(µB) dependent on the magnetic substate of the atom. The population of atoms in various magnetic substates can be altered by using resonant laser radiation to optically pump the atoms.
Abstract We propose two novel schemes for guiding cold, neutral atoms using static magnetic fields generated by several cylindrical arrays of current‐carrying wires or a few different‐shaped (V‐, or U‐shaped, etc.) current‐carrying conductors, and calculate the corresponding magnetic‐field contours and their trapping potentials. Our study shows that some guiding schemes can be used to form an atomic funnel, or an atomic beam‐splitter, or even construct an atomic interferometer, and some guiding schemes can be used to realize a single‐mode wave guide of ultracold atoms (or coherent matter waves, BEC) under certain conditions. We also propose a few new schemes to microscopically trap neutral atoms by using various planar arrays of current‐carrying wires and calculate the spatial distribution of the magnetic fields. Our research shows that these microtrap arrays can be used to form 1D, 2D or 3D atomic magnetic lattices, and then to prepare 1D, 2D or 3D photonic crystals, even to realize a 1D, 2D or 3D array of magnetically‐trapped BECs or Bose Clusters.