La Rooij Seminar Abstract May 2

Towards Quantum Simulation with magnetic lattices

We use nano-lithography techniques to create lattice potentials in permanent magnetic films on atom chips. These lattices can be created over a large range of length scales and are used to trap mesoscopic clouds of ultracold atoms. In our current experiments we use a 10 micron lattice spacing to study Rydberg physics with clouds up to 400 atoms. In parallel, we are downscaling the lattice spacing for a new series of experiments. On these new atom chips we created lattices with lattice spacing varying from 250nm up to 5um on the same chip. I will discuss both the current experiments and the fabrication of these new magnetic potentials. These chips were patterned by e-beam lithography and etched with an Ar plasma to obtain structures with a 20nm resolution. This technique can extend the range of length scales of optical lattices to smaller scale's and therefore higher interaction energies, also it can be used to study degenerate gases in completely engineered potential environments. In my talk I will focus on the fabrication of the magnetic chips, the construction of our new quantum gas experiment and I will show various new lattice geometries that we developed and simulated.