SUPERCHIP · Trapping of atoms on a super-conducting atom chip
FP6 — Marie Curie Actions (Human Resources and Mobility)
- Duration
- 2007-01-01 → 2008-12-31
- EU contribution
- €157,652
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- EIF
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Results in brief
Final Activity Report Summary - SUPERCHIP (Trapping of atoms on a superconducting atom chip)
The long term goal of this project is the preparation of single Rydberg atoms on demand. For attaining this goal, one uses the so called dipole blockade effect. It prevents the excitation of two Rydberg atoms from a dense and strongly confined sample of cold atoms. Several important steps in the direction of this goal where performed during the project. A dense sample of cold atoms has been prepared in a cryogenic environment which is needed to prevent reduction of lifetime of Rydberg atoms by blackbody radiation. Bose-Einstein condensation of atoms was obtained for the first time on a superconducting atom chip. A superconducting wire based detector for electrons was also designed and tested. It efficiently detects single electrons and can be used to detect single Rydberg atoms by ionization. A study of trapping lifetime of cold atoms in a cryogenic environment was also performed. The sensitivity of magnetic trap geometry to permanent supercurrents in the superconducting wires of the atom-chip where also investigated. These studies are essential for manipulating cold atoms close to a superconducting surface.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Atom chips have led over the last years to important progress in the field of cold atoms and interesting potential applications. Such experiments aim at trapping atoms in the magnetic field created by micron-sized wires. The latter are easily engineered by standard microelectronic techniques.The possibility to create any kind of magnetic potential allows for precise manipulation of the atomic sample, particularly interesting if the atoms are in a condensed phase and hence exhibit a collective quantum behaviour. Moreover atom chips offer a natural playground to bring atoms close to conventional micro- or optoelectronics systems and use their coupling to the latter.We are building an atom chip with superconducting Niobium wires as opposed to earlier experiments using normal metals. The lithography of superconducting circuits is a domain of expertise of the applicant. Our cryogenic system will bring important information about the dynamics of the trapping, in which current fluctuations play a crucial role and can become a limiting factor.Current noise properties are completely different for superconductors and could improve earlier performances of normal metals. As an example we want to trap the atoms in a permanent superconducting current without external power supply. More generally, the trapped cloud geometry will reflect the magnetic fields created by the superconducting wires.We want to use it to observe the remarkable properties of the superconducting phase such as the current distribution in the wire or the presence of vortices in the material. Our final goal is to excite the atomic sample towards Rydberg states where atom-atom dipolar coupling plays an important role, possibly relevant for quantum information processing.This program will develop superconducting detectors for those particular atomic states. This would be a first step towards the integration of atomic system with superconducting circuits such as SQUIDs.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE · PARISCoordinatorFrance
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union