2006/05/31 by S. Whitlock, B. V. Hall, T. Roach +7 · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Characterization and Applications of Magnetic Nanoparticles #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #physics.atom-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physreva.75.043602
published as Phys. Rev. A 75, 043602 (2007) · 4 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2006/11/24 · openalex publication_date 2007/04/02 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We report on the origin of fragmentation of ultracold atoms observed on a magnetic film atom chip. Radio frequency spectroscopy and optical imaging of the trapped atoms is used to characterize small spatial variations of the magnetic field near the film surface. Direct observations indicate the fragmentation is due to a corrugation of the magnetic potential caused by long range inhomogeneity in the film magnetization. A model which takes into account two-dimensional variations of the film magnetization is consistent with the observations.