A. I. Sidorov

Magnetic mirrors with micron-scale periodicities for slowly moving neutral atoms

We report recent progress on the development of magnetic mirrors for reflecting beams of slowly moving neutral atoms. Different approaches for constructing periodic magnetic structures with micron-scale periodicities are described, including the use of arrays of current-carrying wires fabricated by photolithography, grooved ferromagnetic structures fabricated by electron-beam lithography, and magnetic structures recorded on magneto-optical film by a focused diode laser beam. Results on the reflection of free-falling laser-cooled caesium atoms from these microfabricated magnetic mirrors are presented.

Micron-scale magnetic structures for atom optics

Abstract Magnetic structures with periodicities on the scale of a micron have been constructed by magneto-optical recording on perpendicularly magnetised TbFeCo film with a focussed diode laser beam in the presence of an external field, and by microfabricating perpendicularly magnetised grooved CoCr structures. Strong reflection signals and predominantly specular reflection have been realised for beams of laser-cooled caesium atoms normally incident on both types of structure. Preliminary measurements of the specularity for a grooved a=1 xa0μm magnetic structure are particularly encouraging.

BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATES ON A PERMANENT MAGNETIC FILM ATOM CHIP

We present a permanent magnetic film atom chip based on perpendicularly magnetized TbGdFeCo films. This chip routinely produces a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of 10 5 87 Rb atoms using the magnetic film potential. Fragmentation observed near the film surface provides unique opportunities to study BEC in a disordered potential. We show this potential can be used to simultaneously produce multiple spatially separated condensates. We exploit part of this potential to realize a time-dependent double well system for splitting a condensate.

A Magnetic Lattice Atom Chip for Ultracold Quantum Gases

We describe a 1-D magnetic lattice atom chip, with a period of 10 µm, to trap multiple clouds of87Rb F=1 atoms at temperatures down to 10 µK with trap lifetimes of 8 s.

'Storage of Light' in a Fast-Light Atomic Medium

We demonstrate both experimentally and by numerical modelling based on the optical Bloch equations that storage and retrieval of optical pulses are remarkably similar in fast- and slow-light atomic media with ground-state Zeeman coherences.