Magnetic Guide and Trap for Cold Neutral Atoms with Current‐Carrying Wires and Conductors

Abstract

AbstractWe propose two novel schemes for guiding cold, neutral atoms using static magnetic fields generated by several cylindrical arrays of current‐carrying wires or a few different‐shaped (V‐, or U‐shaped, etc.) current‐carrying conductors, and calculate the corresponding magnetic‐field contours and their trapping potentials. Our study shows that some guiding schemes can be used to form an atomic funnel, or an atomic beam‐splitter, or even construct an atomic interferometer, and some guiding schemes can be used to realize a single‐mode wave guide of ultracold atoms (or coherent matter waves, BEC) under certain conditions. We also propose a few new schemes to microscopically trap neutral atoms by using various planar arrays of current‐carrying wires and calculate the spatial distribution of the magnetic fields. Our research shows that these microtrap arrays can be used to form 1D, 2D or 3D atomic magnetic lattices, and then to prepare 1D, 2D or 3D photonic crystals, even to realize a 1D, 2D or 3D array of magnetically‐trapped BECs or Bose Clusters.