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A two wire waveguide and interferometer for cold atoms

E. A. Hinds·C. J. Vale·M. G. Boshier
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Abstract

A versatile miniature de Broglie waveguide is formed by two parallel current-carrying wires in the presence of a uniform bias field. We derive a variety of analytical expressions to describe the guide and present a quantum theory to show that it offers a remarkable range of possibilities for atom manipulation on the sub-micron scale. These include controlled and coherent splitting of the wavefunction as well as cooling, trapping and guiding. In particular we discuss a novel microscopic atom interferometer with the potential to be exceedingly sensitive.

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E. A. Hinds, C. J. Vale, M. G. Boshier. 2000-09-29. A two wire waveguide and interferometer for cold atoms. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.86.1462

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