Quantum Wires and Quantum Dots for Neutral Atoms

We discuss a new direction in the field of quantum information processing with neutral atoms. It is based on the use of microfabricated optical elements. With these elements versatile and integrated atom optical devices can be created in a compact fashion. This approach opens the possibility to scale, parallelize, and miniaturize atom optics for new investigations in fundamental research and applications towards quantum computing with neutral atoms. The exploitation of the un...

We introduce a new direction in the field of atom optics, atom interferometry, and neutral-atom quantum information processing. It is based on the use of microfabricated optical elements. With these elements versatile and integrated atom optical devices can be created in a compact fashion. This approach opens the possibility to scale, parallelize, and miniaturize atom optics for new investigations in fundamental research and application. It will lead to new, compact sources o...

We give a comprehensive overview of the development of micro traps, from the first experiments on guiding atoms using current carrying wires in the early 1990's to the creation of a BEC on an atom chip.

Atoms can be trapped and guided using nano-fabricated wires on surfaces, achieving the scales required by quantum information proposals. These Atom Chips form the basis for robust and widespread applications of cold atoms ranging from atom optics to fundamental questions in mesoscopic physics, and possibly quantum information systems.

In its most general form, the atom chip is a device in which neutral or charged particles are positioned in an isolating environment such as vacuum (or even a carbon solid state lattice) near the chip surface. The chip may then be used to interact in a highly controlled manner with the quantum state. I outline the importance of material science to quantum computing (QC) with atom chips, where the latter may be utilized for many, if not all, suggested implementations of QC. Ma...

Many proposals for quantum information processing require precise control over the motion of neutral atoms, as in the manipulation of coherent matter waves or the confinement and localization of individual atoms. Patterns of micron-sized wires, fabricated lithographically on a flat substrate, can conveniently produce large magnetic-field gradients and curvatures to trap cold atoms and to facilitate the production of Bose-Einstein condensates. This paper describes tools and te...

We propose a way to make arrays of optical frequency dipole-force microtraps for cold atoms above a dielectric substrate. Traps are nodes in the evanescent wave fields above an optical waveguide resulting from interference of different waveguide modes. The traps have features sought in developing neutral atom based architectures for quantum computing: ~ 1 mW of laser power yields very tight traps 150 nm above a waveguide with trap vibrational frequencies ~ 1 MHz and vibration...

We propose a novel trap for confining cold neutral atoms in a microscopic ring using a magneto-electrostatic potential. The trapping potential is derived from a combination of a repulsive magnetic field from a hard drive atom mirror and the attractive potential produced by a charged disk patterned on the hard drive surface. We calculate a trap frequency of [29.7, 42.6, 62.8] kHz and a depth of [16.1, 21.8, 21.8] MHz for [133Cs, 87Rb, 40K], and discuss a simple loading scheme ...

We describe the fabrication of an atom mirror by etching of a common hard drive, and we report the observation of specular retroreflection of 11 uk cesium atoms using this mirror. The atoms were trapped and cooled above the hard drive using the mirror magneto-optical trap technique, and upon release, two full bounces were detected. The hard drive atom mirror will be a useful tool for both atom optics and quantum computation.

We propose two kinds of wire configurations fabricated on an atom chip surface for creating two-dimensional (2D) adiabatic rf guide with an inhomogeneous rf magnetic field and a homogenous dc magnetic field. The guiding state can be selected by changing the detuning between the frequency of rf magnetic field and the resonance frequency of two Zeeman sublevels. We also discuss the optimization of loading efficiency and the trap depth and how to decide proper construction when ...