A large magnetic storage ring for Bose-Einstein condensates

TL;DR

This paper reports the development of a large, vertically-oriented magnetic ring for Bose-Einstein condensates, enabling low-loss atomic cloud propagation and potential applications in interferometry.

Contribution

It introduces a 10cm magnetic ring system that allows for extended, low-loss storage and manipulation of Bose-Einstein condensates in a vertical geometry.

Findings

Atomic clouds stored in a 10cm magnetic ring for over 2 meters.

Low heating rate of less than 50nK per second during propagation.

Successful splitting and recombination of condensates for interferometry.

Abstract

Cold atomic clouds and Bose-Einstein condensates have been stored in a 10cm diameter vertically-oriented magnetic ring. An azimuthal magnetic field enables low-loss propagation of atomic clouds over a total distance of 2m, with a heating rate of less than 50nK/s. The vertical geometry was used to split an atomic cloud into two counter-rotating clouds which were recombined after one revolution. The system will be ideal for studying condensate collisions and ultimately Sagnac interferometry.