NGAMIT

Next generation atom chips. Planar microwave traps for experiments with cold atoms and ions/electrons

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The scope of this project is the experimental implementation of the next generation atom chip. Atom chips consist of planar microstructures (several µm down to 100 nm), which generate the magnetic/electric fields for confining and cooling of neutral atoms. Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) can be regularly achieved on atom chips. The key feature of the new chips will be trapping of neutral atoms by means of microwaves. These interact with the atomic hyperfine structure and will be locally generated on the chip’s surface using planar transmission-lines, like microstrips, slotlines and coplanar waveguides. Remarkably, the novel microwave traps will enable the simultaneous trapping of neutral atoms and charged particles with a single common technology for all trapped species. The resulting atom-ion chip will become a powerful tool for studying several topics in atomic physics: collisions of ultracold atoms with ions/electrons, charge-transfer reactions, sympathetic cooling of charged particles by cold atoms, hybrid quantum computation schemes with atoms and ions, etc. The project will also focus on the improvement of the precision of some fundamental constants, like atomic masses and electronic g-factors, through the implementation of matter-wave-interferometry tools for charged particles, similar to those demonstrated for neutral atoms on chips.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

EU-funded scientists developed novel technology for trapping ion particles. These 'ion traps' are devices that store charged atoms and can be used to process and transport vast amounts of information.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Atom chips consist of planar microstructures that generate electromagnetic fields for confining and cooling neutral atoms. The NGAMIT project focused on developing new structures for trapping charged particles, such as electrons or laser-cooled ions. The ultimate aim was to enable coherent coupling of different atomic species (neutral atoms and charged particles) trapped in the same or different chips.

Coherent coupling occurs through particle interaction with microwave photons. These photons transmit the quantum information between the different species in the foreseen quantum microwave network. To this end, the chips included microwave transmission lines, such as microstrips, slot lines and coplanar waveguides. Remarkably, these novel microwave traps enable simultaneous trapping of neutral atoms and charged particles with a single common technology for all trapped particles.

NGAMIT designed a novel coplanar waveguide Penning trap prototype, to detect a single trapped electron or ion. This was the first Penning trap incorporating the magnetic field source in a scalable chip. Project findings resulted in 6 publications.

The resulting atom-ion chip should become a powerful tool for studying several topics in atomic physics. These include collisions of ultracold atoms with ions/electrons, charge-transfer reactions, sympathetic cooling of charged particles by cold atoms, and hybrid quantum computation schemes with atoms and ions.