Suppression of potential roughness in atom-chip ac Zeeman traps

Potential roughness suppression in a RF AC Zeeman atom chip trap

“…We also note that the axial (z) position of the roughness bumps at ∼1,000 µm is offset between the two traps, consistent with theory. 6…”

“…5 On the theory side, a trap based on the ACZ effect has been shown to suppress potential roughness effects by up to ∼ 10 4 compared to a traditional DCZ trap for the same trap height and frequency. 6 In this work, we show the first experimental demonstration of potential roughness suppression in an ACZ chip trap. We utilize a 2-wire trapping scheme to generate comparable DCZ and ACZ traps and show qualitative suppression in the ACZ trap compared to the DCZ trap.…”

“…However, the skin effect will cause AC currents to hug the edges of the chip wire, effectively ignoring this region. 6 This additional suppression could be realized in an atom chip based on broadband microwave structures such as microstrips. 7 3.…”

“…We took care in matching the horizontal and vertical (trap height) position as well as the radial trap frequency in accordance with previous theoretical work. 6 To measure the position of the atoms below the chip we use a dark-ground imaging technique to generate a "dark spot" in our absorption images. The vertical position of the atoms from the chip is then half the distance between the atoms and the dark spot.…”