Hannover 2003 – wissenschaftliches Programm

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Q: Quantenoptik

Q 14: Quantengase 2

Q 14.3: Vortrag

Montag, 24. März 2003, 17:00–17:15, F303

Wire traps - a way to a Bose-Einstein Condensate — •Ch. vom Hagen, A. Kasper, M. Rückel, St. Schneider, Th. Straßel, L. Feenstra, and J. Schmiedmayer — Physikalisches Institut, Universität Heidelberg, Philosophenweg 12, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany

Surface mounted wire traps, or atom chips, combine the advantages of extremely tight and versatile traps and guides for cold atoms and Bose-Einstein Condensates, with the well established techniques of the microfabrication of mechanically stable and reproducible devices. In our experiment we use wire traps in a two-layer set up, which combines ‘large scale’ micro traps with our atom chips. Here we use both a macroscopic copper structure, as well as gold wires on a silicon substrate.

We describe our experimental apparatus in detail where these traps are implemented and Bose-Einstein Condensation has been reached. We also put strong emphasis on the modelling of the used trapping geometries. An exact model of the potential landscape above an atom chip is a necessary tool for performing complex experiments in various micro-traps and guides. To achieve this we employ a finite element algorithm which allows us, as a first step, to calculate the current densities in our wires, wether copper or gold. Based on these results we compute the resulting trapping potentials. This we found essential to correctly interpret our experimental results, and to be a useful tool for designing new chip layouts.

Acknowledgements: atom chip: R. Folman (design); Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel (fabrication). Funding: DFG (SCHM 1599/2-1), EU (ACQUIRE), A.v.Humboldt Stiftung (LF)