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Trapping of ultra-cold atoms with the magnetic field of vortices in a thin-film superconducting micro-structure

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Published 13 April 2010 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd
, , Citation T Müller et al 2010 New J. Phys. 12 043016 DOI 10.1088/1367-2630/12/4/043016

1367-2630/12/4/043016

Abstract

We store and control ultra-cold atoms in a new type of trap using the magnetic fields of vortices in a high-temperature superconducting micro-structure. We generate the attractive trapping potential for the atoms by combining the magnetic field of a superconductor in the remanent state with external homogeneous magnetic fields. We show the control of crucial atom trap characteristics such as an efficient intrinsic loading mechanism, spatial positioning of the trapped atoms and the vortex density in the superconductor. The measured trap characteristics are in good agreement with our numerical simulations.

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