Electric field sensing near the surface microstructure of an atom chip using cold Rydberg atoms

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the use of cold Rydberg atoms to measure electric fields near an atom chip surface, revealing how voltage biasing can reduce unwanted fields and improve hybrid quantum system performance.

Contribution

It introduces a method to measure surface electric fields using Rydberg atoms and shows how voltage biasing can significantly lower these fields.

Findings

Electric fields near the atom chip surface were successfully measured.

Charging of insulators contributes to the electric fields.

Voltage biasing can dramatically reduce surface electric fields.

Abstract

The electric fields near the heterogeneous metal/dielectric surface of an atom chip were measured using cold atoms. The atomic sensitivity to electric fields was enhanced by exciting the atoms to Rydberg states that are 10^8 times more polarizable than the ground state. We attribute the measured fields to charging of the insulators between the atom chip wires. Surprisingly, it is observed that these fields may be dramatically lowered with appropriate voltage biasing, suggesting configurations for the future development of hybrid quantum systems.