2015/02/05 by Shuyu Zhou, Zhou, Shuyu, David Groswasser +7
Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1502.01605
openalex publication_date 2015/02/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The search for quantum coherence based on isolated atoms integrated with a room temperature solid state device (so-called atomchip [1-3]) has been intensifying in the last decade, with advances being made towards applications such as clocks, quantum information processing, surface probing and acceleration and gravitational field sensors. Such a device will also enable (and to some extent has already enabled) novel experiments in fundamental physics (e.g., [4-7]). Here we report on the trapping and maintenance of spatial coherence of atoms (in a Bose-Einstein Condensate -- BEC) about 5μm from a room temperature surface, reducing significantly the distance previously achieved between the spatially coherent atoms and their classical environment [8-12], and most importantly entering the regime where atomic circuits are enabled. In addition, we enter the interesting regime in which the distance to the surface is much smaller than the probed coherence length, a regime in which the spatial dephasing reaches its maximal rate.