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Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Tech Transfer

High-Flux Ultracold-Atom Chip Interferometers, Phase I

Completed Technology Project

Project Introduction

High-Flux Ultracold-Atom Chip Interferometers, Phase I
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. More »

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This is a historic project that was completed before the creation of TechPort on October 1, 2012. Available data has been included. This record may contain less data than currently active projects.

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