Applications of Magnetic Lattices

for Ultracold Atoms

Tien Tran
Yibo Wang, Prince Surendran, Smitha Jose, Ivan Herrera, Brenton Hall,
Russell McLean, Andrei Sidorov and Peter Hannaford
Visiting scientist: Shannon Whitlock

Centre for Quantum and Optical Science

Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
 Outline

Introduction:
Optical and magnetic lattices
BEC in 1D 10 m-periodic magnetic lattice
Magnetic Lattice:
Sub-micron period 1D & 2D magnetic lattice fabrication
Atom-surface interactions
. Superfluid to Mott insulator transition
Future work
 Optical lattice
1D

Optical lattices:
- Created by interfering laser
beams
- Used extensively with broad
2D range of applications

3D
- Restrictions on trap geometries and
lattice spacing
- Spontaneous emission
- Technical noise, heating of atoms
 Magnetic lattice

Magnetic lattice:
- Created by:
Current carrying wires
Permanent magnetic films
Vortex arrays of superconducting
Current carrying wires magnetic lattice films (proposal)
- No spontaneous emission
- Stable & reproducible potentials
- Low technical noise, heating rate

Permanent magnetic film:

- High degree of design flexibility
- Suited for mounting on atom chip

Permanent magnetic film

V. Leung et al., Quantum Inf. Process, 10,955 117203 (2011)
S. Ghanbari et al., J. Phys. B, 39:847, 2007 Atom chip
 10 m-period 1D magnetic lattice
150 nm gold layer

10 nm chromium layer
980 nm TbGdFeCo/Cr
multiple layer
100 nm chromium layer

Si substrate

Multiple layer structure

Atoms in magnetic lattice traps:

RF spectra
Surface
Single lattice site resolution (~4 m)
Gaps: low reflectivity due to Rb contamination
P. Surendran PhD thesis, Swinburne (2014)
RF spectroscopy for different trap depths

RF spectra of loss of atoms in lattice site 38 for different

trap depths f=ff- f0; f0 is the trap bottom
rad/2 = 7.5 kHz , ax/2 = 260 Hz.

Self-consistent mean-field model:

Includes atom-atom interactions in both
BEC & thermal cloud and mutual interaction
between them, plus Thomas-Fermi
approximation

Magnetic noise (Gaussian) function with

FWHM= 4.3 kHz

0
P. Surendran et al. Phys. Rev. A 91, 023605 (2015)
RF spectroscopy for different trap depths
Temperature

RF spectroscopy for lattice site 38 for

different trap depth f=ff- f0
rad/2 = 7.5 kHz , ax/2 = 260 Hz.

Condensate fraction

Chemical Potential

Atom Number
per site

P. Surendran et al. Phys. Rev. A 91, 023605 (2015)

Uniformity across magnetic lattice
Trap bottom
<fo>= 4.9323 0.0003 MHz
RF spectroscopy for 54 lattice sites
Trap depth f=ff- f0= 100 kHz,
rad/2 = 7.5 kHz , ax/2 = 260 Hz.

Temperature
<T>= 0.40 0.03 K

Condensate fraction - Remarkably uniform across the central region of the

magnetic lattice
- Small site-to-site variation compared to absorption
imaging measurements
- Trap bottom measured very accurately
<Nc/N>= 0.54 0.06

</h>= 6.0 0.4 kHz

Chemical Potential
Atom Number
per site

<N>= 220 40

P. Surendran et al. Phys. Rev. A 91, 023605 (2015)

 Previous atom chip
Micromachined silver foil glued on ceramic
plate by epoxy
2 U/Z wires
Dimensions: 50 mm50 mm
U/Z wire width: 1 mm; thickness 0.5 mm

Silver foil

Limitations:
- Thermal conductivity is limited by the UHV-compatible epoxy
- Adhesion is not strong
- Delamination of the silver wire during machining
 New DBC Atom Chip
Direct-Bonded Copper (DBC): Direct joining
of thin sheet of pure copper to a ceramic
substrate.
Strong wire adhesion
UHV compatible
Excellent heat dissipation & high current
handling
Simple fabrication (UV lithography +
chemical etching)

PMMA

UV lithography + chemical etching

Yibo Wang, Swinburne
 New DBC Atom Chip
4 U/Z wires, 2 RF wires
Dimensions: 55 mm50 mm
U/Z wire width: 1 mm
RF wire width: 0.5 mm
Channel width: 0.1 mm (after etching 0.3
mm)
Fabrication Quality Test:
UHV compatible 10-12 mbar (after 4-day
baking)
Heat dissipation: Resistance increases
by less than 50% in 6 minutes
Yibo Wang, Swinburne
 Multilayer Co/Pd magnetic film
Material: Co/Pd mono-atomic-layers
Strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy
Large saturation magnetization: ~5.9 kG > 3.0 kG of
Tb6Gd10Fe80Co4 film
Coercivity: ~1 kOe
Small grain size: ~6 nm < 40 nm of Tb6Gd10Fe80Co4 film

Kerr rotation

Hc

Scanning electron microscope image

(grain size ~ 10 nm)

I. Herrera, et al. J. Phys. D: Applied Physics 48.11, 115002 (2015)

 0.7 m-period 2D magnetic lattice
Schmied-Whitlock Code: find optimal magnetization patterns that produce
desired symmetries for a 2D magnetic lattice with specified trap parameters.

Magnetization Square
pattern Lattice
Potential
metal
Bbx min

Dark regions: potential minima

Bby
Blue dots: trap position

Triangular
Lattice
metal
Potential
Bbx min

Bby R. Schmied et al., New J. Phys., 12, 103029 (2010)

 Patterning
Methodlogy:
Electron-Beam Lithography 10nm resolution
Reactive Ion Etching no resist adhesion problems, high
anisotropic etch profile

PMMA
Co/Pd film
Silicon substrate

Spin coating of PMMA EBL exposure PMMA development

Reactive Ion etching Removal of remaining PMMA

Amandas Balcytics, Saulius Juodkazis, Pierrette Michaux (Swinburne)
New magnetic lattice fabrication

Armandas Balcytis, Pierrette , Saulius (Swinburne Universi

Manfred Albrecht (Augsburg)
5 m-period 1D magnetic lattice
0.7 m-period 1D magnetic lattice
0.7 m-period 2D square magnetic lattice
0.7 m-period 2D triangular magnetic lattice
Magnetic quality 0.7 m-period 1D magnetic lattice

MFM tests:
Operated in AC semi-contact mode to reduce signal-to-noise radio.
MFM signal is sensitive to the second derivative of the z-component
of magnetic field
Phase shift (at the resonant frequency):

decay length (a/2) fitting, a: 66211 nm

MFM at 50 nm above surface (fitting of the phase oscillation, a: 6513 nm )

I. Herrera, et al. J. Phys. D: Applied Physics 48.11, 115002 (2015)

 Spin-flip lifetime

Limitation factors:

Van der Waals force: Johnson (thermal) noise: caused by thermal

- Shifts trap minima towards surface agitation of electrons
Induces spin flips
- Lowers trap frequency - Spin-flip rate for thin conducting layer, t << skin depth (50-
Solution: Increase trapping 100 m)
frequency > crit /2 44 kHz
where:

- Spin-flip lifetime:
Au 180ms (gold) Pd 800ms (palladium)

I. Herrera, et al. J. Phys. D: Applied Physics 48.11, 115002 (2015)

 Superfluid to Mott insulator transition

Bose- Hubbard Model:

(Tunnelling)

J : tunnelling matrix element between neighbouring lattice sites

U : on-site interaction matrix element
: counting operator of the number of atoms on the ith lattice site

Superfluid to Mott insulator transition in 3D optical lattice

Super Fluid Mott insulator Super Fluid

Trap depth V = 3 Er Trap depth V = 20 Er Trap depth V = 3 Er

M.Greiner et al., Nature 415, 39-44 ( 2002)

Quantum Monte-Carlo: (U/J)critical ~ 17 for 2D square lattice

S. Wessel et al., PRA 70, 053615 (2004)
 Summary

DBC atom chip:

DBC atom chip has been fabricated
Fabrication quality (Chip UHV compatiblity and wire heat
dissipation) has been tested

Sub-micron period 2D magnetic lattice:

Sub-micron 1D & 2D Co/Pd magnetic film has been
fabricated
Fabrication quality (structure & magnetic properties) has
been tested
New atom chip has been installed in the UHV
chamber
 Research significance & Future work

Significance:
Explore new range of condensed matter experiments
More insight on atom surface interactions

Future plan:

Now - 1/2016 - Redesign, assemble and optimize the optical setup

- Trapping ultracold atoms in 5 m period 1D magnetic

2/2016 - 6/2016
lattice experiments
- Start quantum tunneling experiment on sub-micron period
7/2016-11/2016 1D and 2D magnetic lattices
- Analyze and interpret results
Thank you