COLDQUANTA'S ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE IS TO PRODUCE A COMPACT, TURNKEY, ULTRACOLD-ATOM SYSTEM SPECIFICALLY DESIGN…

Public award description

COLDQUANTA'S ULTIMATE OBJECTIVE IS TO PRODUCE A COMPACT, TURNKEY, ULTRACOLD-ATOM SYSTEM SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR PERFORMING INTERFEROMETRY WITH BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATES. TO PRODUCE ULTRACOLD-ATOM-BASED DEVICES (E.G. INERTIAL SENSORS, MAGNETOMETERS, CLOCKS, ETC.) THAT CAN COMPETE WITH EXISTING TECHNOLOGIES, HIGHER FLUXES AND/OR FASTER PRODUCTION RATES WILL BE NEEDED OVER CURRENT STATE-OF-THE-ART TECHNIQUES. IN THIS PHASE I WORK EFFORT, COLDQUANTA WILL ADDRESS THIS NEED FOR GREATER FLUXES BY INVESTIGATING TWO APPROACHES TOWARD DEVELOPING HIGH-FLUX COMPACT BEC-PRODUCING SYSTEMS. THE FIRST APPROACH TARGETS SYSTEMS THAT UTILIZE COLDQUANTA'S RUBECI VACUUM CELL AND ITS PROVEN SUCCESS AT THE HEART OF THE WORLD'S SMALLEST, FASTEST-PRODUCING, ULTRACOLD ATOM SYSTEMS. USING NUMERICAL OPTIMIZATION, WE WILL IMPROVE THE SPEED AND EFFICIENCY (I.E. REDUCE ATOM LOSS) OF SEVERAL KEY PRODUCTION STEPS, INCLUDING FASTER TRAP LOADING FROM A COLD-ATOM SOURCE AND MORE EFFICIENT ATOM TRANSFER BETWEEN MAGNETIC TRAPS. IN THE SECOND, HIGHER PAYOFF APPROACH, WE WILL INVESTIGATE IMPLEMENTATION OF ASSEMBLY-LINE PRODUCTION OF BECS USING VACUUM CELL CONSTRUCTION THAT ALLOWS EACH STAGE OF PRODUCTION TO OCCUR SIMULTANEOUSLY THROUGHOUT A SERIES OF INTERCONNECTED VACUUM CHAMBERS. THE RESULTING SYSTEM WOULD CREATE ULTRACOLD ATOMS QUASI-CONTINUOUSLY AND INCREASE PRODUCTION RATES BY VIRTUALLY ELIMINATING DEAD TIME BETWEEN SEQUENTIAL OPERATING CYCLES.