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Gradient Echo Quantum Memory in Warm Atomic Vapor
Published on: November 11, 2013
Propagation of cold atoms along a miniature magnetic guide
Key1, Hughes, Rooijakkers
1Sussex Centre for Optical and Atomic Physics, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9QH, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
A cloud of laser-cooled 85Rb atoms is coupled through a magnetic funnel into a miniature waveguide formed by four current-carrying wires embedded in a silica fiber. The atom cloud has a approximately 100 &mgr;m radius within the fiber and propagates over cm distances. We study the coupling, propagation, and transverse distribution of atoms in the fiber, and find good agreement with theory. This prototype demonstrates the feasibility of miniature guides as a tool in the new field of integrated atom optics, leading to single-mode propagation of de Broglie waves and the possible preparation of 1D atom clouds.
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