Final Activity Report Summary - ATOM CHIPS (Physics and Applications of Atom Manipulation on Integrated Chips)
Since the discovery of Bose-Einstein condensation of atomic gases in 1995, the field of degenerate quantum gases grew at a breakneck pace. It has recently become possible to shrink systems for carrying out such experiments to the point where microfabrication or nanofabrication techniques can be used to construct the necessary building blocks. These building blocks consist of lithographically deposited wires to create electric and magnetic fields and optical components to couple laser light to the atoms.
The ATOM CHIPS network brought together several partners to promote cooperation between the European groups working in this area. In addition to our purely scientific research goals, our network emphasised the possibilities for simplification and cost reduction that atom chips could bring to the study of ultracold gases. The miniaturisation which was made possible by microfabrication led naturally to highly confining atom trap geometries. Traps could be made sufficiently tight along one or two dimensions in which an effective one or two dimensional system was created. Thus, an important element of the research was the study of both bosons and fermions in low dimensions.
Microlithography also permitted great flexibility in the engineering of trapping geometries. In particular, atom waveguides and coherence preserving couplers between guides could be envisioned. Such structures opened the way to guided atom interferometry, with applications to integrated intertial and gravitational sensors, useful for inertial navigation and earth monitoring. In addition, members of the network used atom chips to made fundamental contributions to the study of atom surface interactions, the effects of inter-atom interactions in quantum gases and transport properties.
During the four years of the contract, the network completed all the tasks that were described in contracts Annex 1. I followed this document outline in describing our research achievements. Our list of publications numbered more than 120 by the time of the project completion. The list was included in the annex of the project final activity report and could be consulted for more details. The references for these publications were also posted on the network website, http://www.iota.u-psud.fr/~atomchip/(opens in new window) .
The ATOM CHIPS network brought together several partners to promote cooperation between the European groups working in this area. In addition to our purely scientific research goals, our network emphasised the possibilities for simplification and cost reduction that atom chips could bring to the study of ultracold gases. The miniaturisation which was made possible by microfabrication led naturally to highly confining atom trap geometries. Traps could be made sufficiently tight along one or two dimensions in which an effective one or two dimensional system was created. Thus, an important element of the research was the study of both bosons and fermions in low dimensions.
Microlithography also permitted great flexibility in the engineering of trapping geometries. In particular, atom waveguides and coherence preserving couplers between guides could be envisioned. Such structures opened the way to guided atom interferometry, with applications to integrated intertial and gravitational sensors, useful for inertial navigation and earth monitoring. In addition, members of the network used atom chips to made fundamental contributions to the study of atom surface interactions, the effects of inter-atom interactions in quantum gases and transport properties.
During the four years of the contract, the network completed all the tasks that were described in contracts Annex 1. I followed this document outline in describing our research achievements. Our list of publications numbered more than 120 by the time of the project completion. The list was included in the annex of the project final activity report and could be consulted for more details. The references for these publications were also posted on the network website, http://www.iota.u-psud.fr/~atomchip/(opens in new window) .