Manipulating ultracold atoms with a reconfigurable nanomagnetic system of domain walls

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a reconfigurable nanomagnetic system that can control ultracold atoms, enabling scalable and tunable atom manipulation for quantum technologies using magnetic domain walls.

Contribution

It introduces a novel architecture using magnetic domain walls in nanowires for atomic control, allowing remote and reliable tuning of atom interactions.

Findings

Ultracold atoms can be reflected by nanowire arrays controlled by domain walls.

Magnetic reconfigurability enables quick tuning of atom-nanowire interactions.

Proof-of-principle shows potential for advanced atom chips for quantum applications.

Abstract

The divide between the realms of atomic-scale quantum particles and lithographically-defined nanostructures is rapidly being bridged. Hybrid quantum systems comprising ultracold gas-phase atoms and substrate-bound devices already offer exciting prospects for quantum sensors, quantum information and quantum control. Ideally, such devices should be scalable, versatile and support quantum interactions with long coherence times. Fulfilling these criteria is extremely challenging as it demands a stable and tractable interface between two disparate regimes. Here we demonstrate an architecture for atomic control based on domain walls (DWs) in planar magnetic nanowires that provides a tunable atomic interaction, manifested experimentally as the reflection of ultracold atoms from a nanowire array. We exploit the magnetic reconfigurability of the nanowires to quickly and remotely tune the interaction with high reliability. This proof-of-principle study shows the practicability of more elaborate atom chips based on magnetic nanowires being used to perform atom optics on the nanometre scale.