Micro-wire Magnetic Trap Chips for use in Ultracold Atom Experiments

• Author / Creator

  Thibault, Jacques

• In order to take quantum mechanical systems out of the lab and produce practical devices, a method of miniaturizing and integrating apparatus components is needed. In the context of ultracold atomic gas experiments, the ideal method of achieving this miniaturization is the implementation of atom chip technology. By depositing micro-scale current carrying wires onto planar substrates, it is possible to create a magnetic trap capable of confining a cloud of neutral atoms in sufficient
  proximity to the chip surface for solid state devices to interact with the cloud.
  This thesis presents our lab’s first steps towards creating an atom chip capable of confining a cloud of rubidium-87. The chip prototypes were developed with the intent to incorporate them into the hybrid system apparatus within our lab. The chips are intended to serve as a platform for facilitating the interaction between the atomic gas ensemble and mesoscopic solid-state devices, allowing for the hybridization of the two systems.
  In this work I describe the design of the trapping wire configuration and the fabrication of the first two generations of chip prototypes. Additionally, I provide numerical simulations of the produced magnetic field, from which estimates of the trap frequency and depth can be calculated. Finally, I introduce some basic characterization tests of the absolute current limitations and resistive behavior of the chip wires, and the dimensional uniformity of the fabricated wire profiles.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • microfabrication
  • Atom chip
  • magnetic trapping
  • hybrid quantum systems

• Graduation date

  Fall 2019

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Science

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-rp3h-5g24

• License

  Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.