Francisco Fonta | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

From MOT to BEC using a single crossed-wire pair

We demonstrate a new magneto-optical trap (MOT) configuration using a simple pair of crossed wires rotated at 45 deg and an appropriate bias field to generate a MOT of >10^8 atoms. The same pair of wires, with slightly adjusted control parameters, is then used to magnetically trap the atoms and cool them via forced evaporative cooling into a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with >10^4 atoms. We present the theoretical framework for generating a quadrupole field using a pair of crossed wires with arbitrary rotation angle, along with the atom chip design and fabrication. Finally, we describe the experimental protocols required for BEC production using only a single crossed-wire atom chip.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2025

Deep Learning for Absorption-Image Analysis

The quantum state of ultracold atoms is often determined through measurement of the spatial distribution of the atom cloud. Absorption imaging of the cloud is regularly used to extract this spatial information. Accurate determination of the parameters which describe the spatial distribution of the cloud is crucial to the success of many ultracold atom applications. In this work, we present modified deep learning image classification models for image regression. To overcome challenges in data collection, we train the model on simulated absorption images. We compare the performance of the deep learning models to least-squares techniques and show that the deep learning models achieve accuracy similar to least-squares, while consuming significantly less computation time. We compare the performance of models which take a single atom image against models which use an atom image plus other images that contain background information, and find that both models achieved similar accuracy. The use of single image models will enable single-exposure absorption imaging, which simplifies experiment design and eases imaging hardware requirements.

quant-ph↗