Box traps on an atom chip for one-dimensional quantum gases

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the creation of box-like trapping potentials on an atom chip for ultracold gases, enabling detailed studies of one-dimensional quantum gases with precise control over atomic confinement.

Contribution

The authors design, fabricate, and characterize atom chips with tailored box traps, advancing the ability to study 1D quantum gases in customizable potentials.

Findings

Successful realization of elongated box traps on atom chips.

Demonstration of Bose-gas focusing for cloud characterization.

Potential for new experiments in one-dimensional quantum gases.

Abstract

We present the implementation of tailored trapping potentials for ultracold gases on an atom chip. We realize highly elongated traps with box-like confinement along the long, axial direction combined with conventional harmonic confinement along the two radial directions. The design, fabrication and characterization of the atom chip and the box traps is described. We load ultracold ($\lesssim1 \mu$K) clouds of $^{87}$Rb in a box trap, and demonstrate Bose-gas focusing as a means to characterize these atomic clouds in arbitrarily shaped potentials. Our results show that box-like axial potentials on atom chips are very promising for studies of one-dimensional quantum gases.