Single vortex fluctuations in a superconducting chip as generating dephasing and spin flips in cold atom traps

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a single vortex in a superconducting chip affects cold atom traps, focusing on spin flips and dephasing caused by vortex fluctuations, with implications for trap stability and coherence.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of vortex-induced dephasing and spin flips in cold atom traps, highlighting conditions that minimize decoherence and the vortex orientation effects.

Findings

Spin flip and dephasing rates decay rapidly beyond the magnetic penetration length.

Certain spin orientations significantly reduce dephasing effects.

Vortex must be perpendicular to the surface for general vortex shapes.

Abstract

We study trapping of a cold atom by a single vortex line in an extreme type II superconducting chip, allowing for pinning and friction. We evaluate the atom's spin flip rate and its dephasing due to the vortex fluctuations in equilibrium and find that they decay rapidly when the distance to the vortex exceeds the magnetic penetration length. We find that there are special spin orientations, depending on the spin location relative to the vortex, at which spin dephasing is considerably reduced while perpendicular directions have a reduced spin flip rate. We also show that the vortex must be perpendicular to the surface for a general shape vortex.