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arXiv · 1601.05548

Design and fabrication of diffractive atom chips for laser cooling and trapping

J. P. Cotter·J. P. McGilligan·P. F. Griffin·I. M. Rabey·K. Docherty·E. Riis·A. S. Arnold·E. A. Hinds
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Abstract

It has recently been shown that optical reflection gratings fabricated directly into an atom chip provide a simple and effective way to trap and cool substantial clouds of atoms [1,2]. In this article we describe how the gratings are designed and micro-fabricated and we characterise their optical properties, which determine their effectiveness as a cold atom source. We use simple scalar diffraction theory to understand how the morphology of the gratings determines the power in the diffracted beams.

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J. P. Cotter, J. P. McGilligan, P. F. Griffin, I. M. Rabey, K. Docherty, E. Riis, A. S. Arnold, E. A. Hinds. 2016-01-21. Design and fabrication of diffractive atom chips for laser cooling and trapping. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-016-6415-y

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