Magnetic guide of cold atoms using a U-shaped current-carrying conductor

We propose a new scheme to magnetically guide cold neutral atoms using a U-shaped current carrying conductor. The spatial magnetic field distribution from the U-shaped current-carrying conductor and the relationship between the magnetic field and parameters of the U-shaped conductor are analysed. Our study shows that U-shaped current-carrying conductor can be used to realize single- or double-channel magnetic guiding of cold atoms in weak-field-seeking states and to construct various atom-optical elements. By using Monte Carlo simulations, the dynamic process of the guided atomic-beam splitting in an atomic-beam splitter composed by the U-shaped current-carrying conductor is studied, and some results are presented.     

Miniaturized magnetic guide for neutral atoms

We describe the principle and realization of a miniaturized magnetic guide for neutral atoms. The magnetic guide in our experiment is formed by a micrometer-sized current-carrying wire which is attached to a second, thick wire. The conductors are electrically insulated from each other. The combined magnetic field of both conductors provides an approximately linear trapping potential which establishes a magnetic guide along the surface of the thin wire. The miniaturized waveguide is filled with rubidium atoms from a magneto-optical trap (MOT) by first loading the atoms into a spherical magnetic quadrupole trap which is subsequently transformed into the linear potential of the waveguide. As thermal source for Rb atoms we use an alkali metal dispenser which is located close to the center of the MOT. This novel method is compatible with ultrahigh vacuum conditions and we achieved lifetimes of the magnetically trapped atoms up to 100 s. Received: 18 October 1999 / Published online: 24 March 2000     

Loading of a cold atomic beam into a magnetic guide

We demonstrate experimentally the continuous and pulsed loading of a slow and cold atomic beam into a magnetic guide. The slow beam is produced using a vapor loaded laser trap, which ensures two-dimensional magneto-optical trapping, as well as cooling by a moving molasses along the third direction. It provides a continuous flux larger than 10⁹ atoms/s with an adjustable mean velocity ranging from 0.3 to 3 m/s, and with longitudinal and transverse temperatures smaller than 100 μK. Up to 3×10⁸ atoms/s are injected into the magnetic guide and subsequently guided over a distance of 40 cm. Received 19 February 2002 Published online 28 June 2002     

Time domain de Broglie wave interferometry along a magnetic guide

Propagation and tunneling of light through photonic barriers formed by thin dielectric films with continuous curvilinear distributions of dielectric susceptibility across the film, are considered. Giant heterogeneity-induced dispersion of these films, both convex and concave, and its influence on their reflectivity and transmittivity are visualized by means of exact analytical solutions of Maxwell equations. Depending on the cut-off frequency of the film, governed by the spatial profile of its refractive index, propagation or tunneling of light through such barriers are examined. Subject to the shape of refractive index profile the group velocities of EM waves in these films are shown to be either increased or deccreased as compared with the homogeneous layers; however, these velocities for both propagation and tunneling regimes remain subluminal. The decisive influence of gradient and curvature of photonic barriers on the efficiency of tunneling is examined by means of generalized Fresnel formulae. Saturation of the phase of the wave tunneling through a stack of such films (Hartman effect), is demonstrated. The evanescent modes in lossy barriers and violation of Hartman effect in this case is discussed.     

A magnetic lens for cold atoms controlled by a rf field

We report on a new type of magnetic lens that focuses atomic clouds using a static inhomogeneous magnetic field in combination with a radio-frequency (rf) field. The experimental study is performed with a cloud of cold cesium atoms. The rf field adiabatically deforms the magnetic potential of a coil and therefore changes its focusing properties. The focal length can be tuned precisely by changing the rf frequency value. Depending on the rf antenna position relative to the dc magnetic profile, the focal length of the atomic lens can be either decreased or increased by the rf field. PACS 39.25.+k; 37.10.Gh     

Coherent population trapping states with cold atoms in a magnetic field

Using potassium atoms cooled with a MOT, ground-state hyperfine coherent population trapped (CPT) states were prepared in a magnetic (B) field, and the behavior of CPT states was experimentally studied. We carefully measured the preparation of the CPT state as a function of time and the CPT signal as a function of laser power. The experimental CPT signal linewidth was approximately proportional to the square root of laser intensity in the range of parameters studied, and limits of this relation were explored theoretically.     

Manipulation of cold atoms by an adaptable magnetic reflector

Adaptive optics for cold atoms has been experimentally realized by applying a bias magnetic field to a static magnetic mirror. The mirror consist of a 12-mm-diameter piece of commercial videotape, having a sine wave of wavelength 25.4 μm recorded in a single track across its width, curved to form a concave reflector with radius of curvature R=54 mm. We have studied the performance of the mirror by monitoring the evolution of a 24 μK cloud of ⁸⁵Rb atoms bouncing on it. A uniform static external magnetic field was added to the mirror field causing a corrugated potential from which the atoms bounce with increased angular spread. The characteristic angular distribution of the surface normal is mapped at the peak of the bounce for atoms dropped from a height of R/2 and at the peak of the second bounce for a drop height of R/4. In a second experiment a time-dependent magnetic field was applied and the angular distribution of the cloud was measured as a function of field frequency. In this scheme we demonstrate a corrugated potential whose time-dependent magnitude behaves like a diffraction grating of variable depth. Finally a rotating field was added to generate a corrugated potential that moves with a velocity given by the product of the external field rotation frequency and the videotape wavelength. This travelling grating provides a new method of manipulation as cold atoms are transported across the surface by surfing along the moving wave. Two theoretical methods have been developed to predict the behaviour of atoms reflecting from these stationary, variable magnitude and moving corrugated potentials. A simple analytic theory provides excellent agreement for reflection from a stationary corrugated potential and gives good agreement when extended to the case of a travelling grating. A Monte Carlo simulation was also performed by brute force numeric integration of the equations of motion for atoms reflecting from all three corrugated potential cases. Received: 1 December 1999 / Revised version: 3 February 2000 / Published online: 5 April 2000     

Thermalization of neutrons on cold atoms in magnetic traps

A new method is proposed for cooling polarized neutrons by thermalizing neutrons in spherical and torroidal magnetic traps with elastic triplet scattering by cold, double spin-polarized, hydrogen atoms. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 70, No. 9, 570–572 (10 November 1999)     

A novel controllable double-layer magnetic lattice with cold atoms

We propose a novel array of controllable double-well magnetic microtraps for cold atoms by using an array of square current-carrying wires and two additional bias magnetic fields. Arrays of double layer magnetooptical traps (MOTs) and Ioffe traps can be constructed by using same wire configurations and different currents and bias fields. Furthermore, the array of double-well magnetic microtraps can be continuously evolved as an array of single-well magnetic microtraps by reducing the currents in the wires. Our study shows that our scheme can be used to realize a controllable double-layer magnetic lattice with cold atoms, to form array of Bose-Einstein condensations (BECs), or to study atom interference, and so on.     

Dynamics of cold atoms in a quadrupole magnetic trap with an orbiting potential

We study the dynamics of atoms confined to a quadrupole magnetic trap with an orbiting potential. For typical values of the experimental parameters of the trap, the rotating magnetic field is shown to produce high-frequency modulation of atomic momenta with an amplitude comparable to the widths of the momentum distributions for the lowest oscillation states of atoms in the time-averaged potential. We find the quantum-statistical momentum and position distributions of atoms and show that at temperatures much higher than the effective vibrational temperature of the atoms in the trap the quantum-statistical momentum and position distributions are Gaussian. We also establish that at temperatures comparable to the effective vibrational temperature of the atoms the quantum-statistical momentum distribution has an annular structure in the trap’s symmetry plane, which is due to the deep modulation of the atomic momenta caused by the rotating magnetic field. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 114, 23–36 (July 1998)     

A lattice of magneto-optical and magnetic traps for cold atoms

We describe basic periodic trapping configurations for ultracold atoms above surfaces. The approach is based on a simple wire grid and can be scaled to provide large arrays of periodically arranged magnetic or magneto-optical traps. The unit cells of the trap lattices are based on crossed wire segments. By alternating the current directions in the wires of the grid it can be distinguished between 3 basic lattice configurations. As a first demonstration, we used macroscopic wires in a 2 layer configuration to realize the unit cells of the lattices. With this experimental setup, we observe two of the basic unit cells and an array of 2×2 magneto optical traps. Received 29 August 2002 / Received in final form 12 December 2002 Published online 18 February 2003     

Transverse heating due to nonadiabatic propagation of cold atoms in an atomic guide

We study propagation of cold atoms along a curved atomic guide following an arbitrary trajectory in space. Transverse energy of the atomic beam increases as the beam propagates along the guide. Our model explains results of recent experiments on optical and magnetic guiding of cold atoms.     

Nonequilibrium dynamics of parametrically excited cold atoms via magnetic field-gradient modulation

We propose that the driven cold atomic system whose trap potential is periodically perturbed via parametric modulation of the magnetic field-gradien is a novel system to investigate the complex dynamics in nonlinear dynamical systems. We calculate the atomic trajectories and basins of attraction by varying the modulation amplitude and the modulation frequency. The calculation results show parametric resonance similar to those in Kim et. al.'s work [Opt. Commun. 236 (2004) 349] on cold atoms under parametric modulation of trap laser intensities in the case of small modulation amplitude or low modulation frequency. As the modulation amplitude or the modulation frequency is increased, the nonlinear effects are enhanced so that the dynamics of the system shows a wide variety of nonlinear behaviors, such as period doubling and chaos. We experimentally demonstrate the parametric resonance when the magnetic field gradient is parametrically modulated, which evidences the realization of the proposed system. We expect that this system is useful for understanding the stochastic phenomena occurring between complex basins of attraction, such as fluctuation induced transitions across the complex basin boundaries.     

Experiments on the reflection of cold atoms from magnetic thin films

We report the results from a series of experiments in which ferromagnetic thin films were used as atom mirrors for laser-cooled rubidium atoms released from a magneto-optical trap. The thin films were made of cobalt and lanthanum calcium manganite (LCMO) with thicknesses between 20 and 300 nm. The magnetic domains in these thin films have a periodic structure where the spatial period is of the order of the thickness of the film, and the field decays exponentially above the film over a length scale comparable to the domain size. Thus, the neutral atoms reflect off these films from distances comparable to the thickness of the film, resulting in modification of the reflectivity due to the competition between the repulsive magnetic force and the attractive short-range forces such as van der Waals and Casimir forces. The smoothness of the atom mirror is also modified due to the proximity of the magnetic domains. The reflectivity is sensitive to the domain structure and size, which can be modified in LCMO by applying a modest external magnetic field. In this paper, we discuss the evaluation of the thin films as magnetic mirrors for atom optics, and the measurement of the van der Waals force with an accuracy of about 15%, using cobalt thin films. We also discuss some preliminary results on the temperature-dependent reflectivity for atoms near the ferromagnetic transition at 250 K in the LCMO film, and on the domain dynamics and relaxation.     

Mapping a cloud of ultra-cold atoms onto a miniature storage ring

We describe how to realize magnetic and magneto-optical confinement of ultra-cold atoms in a torus with adjustable diameter and how an elliptical cloud of ultra-cold atoms can be adiabatically transformed to have a toroidal shape. An experiment with cold ⁸⁷Rb atoms demonstrates the feasibility of shape transformations. These techniques can be used for atom interferometry and quantum computation. PACS 03.75.Be; 32.80.Pj; 03.67.Lx     

Comparison of two absorption imaging methods to detect cold atoms in magnetic trap

Two methods of absorption imaging to detect cold atoms in a magnetic trap are implemented for a high-precision cold atom interferometer.In the first method,a probe laser which is in resonance with a cycle transition frequency is used to evaluate the quantity and distribution of the atom sample.In the second method,the probe laser is tuned to an open transition frequency,which stimulates a few and constant number of photons per atom.This method has a shorter interaction time and results in absorption images which are not affected by the magnetic field and the light field.We make a comparison of performance between these two imaging methods in the sense of parameters such as pulse duration,light intensity,and magnetic field strength.The experimental results show that the second method is more reliable when detecting the quantity and density profiles of the atoms.These results fit well to the theoretical analysis.     

Nanoscale guiding for cold atoms based on surface plasmons along the tips of metallic wedges

We propose a novel scheme to guide neutral cold atoms in a nanoscale region based on surface plasmons (SPs) of one pair and two pairs of tips of metallic wedges with locally enhanced light intensity and sub-optical wavelength resolution. We analyze the near-field intensity distribution of the tip of the metallic wedge by the FDTD method, and study the total intensity as well as the total potential of optical potentials and van der Waals potentials for 87 Rb atoms in the light field of one pair and two pairs of tips of metallic wedges. It shows that the total potentials of one pair and two pairs of tips of metallic wedges can generate a gravito-optical trap and a dark closed trap for nanoscale guiding of neutral cold atoms. Guided atoms can be cooled with efficient intensity-gradient Sisyphus cooling by blue-detuned light field. This provides an important step towards the generation of hybrid systems consisting of isolated atoms and solid devices.     

Photoassociation of cold Ca atoms

We present the first measurement of a photoassociative spectrum of an alkaline earth element near the dissociation limit. The observed spectrum of Ca2 formed from cold atoms shows the regular vibrational series with the characteristic spacing of the 1/R3 asymptotic potential. The interpretation is in principle simplified compared to previous measurements on alkali metals by the nondegenerate ground state and the missing hyperfine structure of 40Ca. As an example, we derive the natural decay rate of the excited atomic 4p 1P1 state from the positions of the observed vibrational and rotational resonances with reduced uncertainty compared to previous measurements.