Ron Folman Abstract

Ron Folman Ben Gurion University, Israel

"Atomchips: Where Material Engineering Meets Atom Optics"

ABSTRACT:

Cold isolated atoms (micro to nano Kelvin regime) offer a unique system for quantum operations, both for technology and fundamental studies. To maintain a high level of control over the external and internal degrees of freedom of such atoms, and to enable robust minaturization and enhanced complexity, a system named the atom chip began to be utilized in 1999. Here, fields originating from the chip -- magnetic, electric, and electro-magnetic --trap, guide, manipulate, and measure the atoms which are positioned microns away from the chip surface in ultra-high-vacuum. In this presentation I will describe two drawbacks of this system, namely, static magnetic potential corruigations arising from electron scattering in the surface, and spin flips and decoherence of the atomic state originating from thermally activated electron current fluctuations in the surface giving rise to noise. Several recent experimental and theoretical observations will be detailed.