Efficient loading of a magnetic waveguide on an atom chip
- Department of Physics, University of Colorado (United States) and JILA, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309-0440 (United States)
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 21 cm 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.
- OSTI ID:
- 20718190
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. A, Vol. 72, Issue 2; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.72.023612; (c) 2005 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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