Hannover 2010 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 45: Ultra Cold Atoms, Ions and BEC III (with A)
Q 45.2: Talk
Thursday, March 11, 2010, 10:45–11:00, F 303
Measurements of the Interaction between Ultracold Atoms and Carbon Nanostructures — •Philipp Schneeweiss1, Michael Gierling1, Gabriela Visanescu1, Johannes Märkle1, Benjamin Jetter1, Thomas Judd1, Michael Häffner1, Dieter Kern1, Carsten Weiss2, Reinhold Walser3, Andreas Günther1, and József Fortágh1 — 1Center for Collective Quantum Phenomena and their Applications, Universität Tübingen, Auf der Morgenstelle 14, D-72076 Tübingen — 2Institut für Quantenphysik, Universität Ulm, D-89069 Ulm — 3Institut für Angewandte Physik, TU Darmstadt, Hochschulstraße 4a, D-64289 Darmstadt
We have developed an ultracold atom experiment for studying interactions between Rubidium atoms and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). In a first series of measurements, ultracold atom clouds have been used as a scanning probe for measuring the topography of CNT structures on a chip surface. A magnetic conveyor belt allows the three-dimensional nano-positioning of atomic ensembles above the chip. The method can successfully resolve extended arrays and lines of nanotubes, as well as individual, freestanding CNTs.
In a second experiment, the loss and heating rates of atom clouds spatially overlapping with a single, freestanding CNT have been measured. Using the data, we quantify the total scattering cross-section and compare it to the geometrical cross-section between the atoms and the single CNT. We find first evidence for the influence of Casimir-Polder effects in the interaction and discuss its contributions to the scattering cross-section.