Berlin 2008 – scientific programme

Parts | Days | Selection | Search | Downloads | Help

DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 10: Internal Symposium: Controlling Dirty Bosons: Disorder Effects on BECs

DY 10.3: Invited Talk

Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 10:25–10:55, MA 001

Ultracold atoms near nanofabricated surfaces — •Jozsef Fortagh — Physikalisches Institut der Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 14, 72076 Tübingen

The research field of ultracold atomic quantum gases in microscopic traps has seen enormous advances within the last few years. State of the art chip fabrication technology is used to realize trapping potentials of various geometries for cold atoms, to control the distance between atoms and a solid surface with high precision, and to construct model potentials for degenerate Bose and Fermi gases. Imperfect fabrication of the field generating elements enters as a disorder in the trapping potential. This may offer novel experimental access to the physics of disordered systems. At the same time, fundamental electromagnetic interactions between atoms and the chip surface become manifest in the attractive Casimir-Polder force between atoms and the surface, and decoherence of atomic spins. These effects have been observed in experiments. I will review experimental techniques on manipulating cold atoms at nanofabricated surfaces, recent experiments on atom-surface interactions, and model experiments on atom interferometry.

Reference:

"Magnetic Microtraps for Ultracold Atoms", J. Fortágh and C. Zimmermann, Rev. Mod. Phys. 79, 235 (2007).