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Author

W. Hänsel

Other affiliations: Max Planck Society
Bio: W. Hänsel is an academic researcher from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. The author has contributed to research in topics: Ultracold atom & Atom interferometer. The author has an hindex of 6, co-authored 7 publications receiving 1511 citations. Previous affiliations of W. Hänsel include Max Planck Society.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
04 Oct 2001-Nature
TL;DR: It is demonstrated that the formation of a condensate can be greatly simplified using a microscopic magnetic trap on a chip, and the possibility of manipulating laser-like coherent matter waves with such an integrated atom-optical system holds promise for applications in interferometry, holography, microscopy, atom lithography and quantum information processing.
Abstract: Although Bose-Einstein condensates of ultracold atoms have been experimentally realizable for several years, their formation and manipulation still impose considerable technical challenges. An all-optical technique that enables faster production of Bose-Einstein condensates was recently reported. Here we demonstrate that the formation of a condensate can be greatly simplified using a microscopic magnetic trap on a chip. We achieve Bose-Einstein condensation inside the single vapour cell of a magneto-optical trap in as little as 700 ms-more than a factor of ten faster than typical experiments, and a factor of three faster than the all-optical technique. A coherent matter wave is emitted normal to the chip surface when the trapped atoms are released into free fall; alternatively, we couple the condensate into an 'atomic conveyor belt', which is used to transport the condensed cloud non-destructively over a macroscopic distance parallel to the chip surface. The possibility of manipulating laser-like coherent matter waves with such an integrated atom-optical system holds promise for applications in interferometry, holography, microscopy, atom lithography and quantum information processing.

636 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe manipulation of neutral atoms using the magnetic field of microfabricated current-carrying conductors and demonstrate how this method can be used to achieve adiabatic magnetic transport from one reservoir to another.
Abstract: We describe manipulation of neutral atoms using the magnetic field of microfabricated current-carrying conductors. It is shown how this method can be used to achieve adiabatic magnetic transport from one reservoir to another. In the first experimental realization of a microfabricated magnetic neutral-atom trap, efficient loading is achieved with a novel mirror-magneto-optic trap. A cloud of rubidium atoms is stored and compressed using the magnetic field of a ``U''-shaped wire carrying a current of 2 A. An evaporation mechanism is demonstrated which removes hot atoms from the trap by collisions with the substrate surface.

418 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An integrated magnetic device which transports cold atoms near a surface with very high positioning accuracy and allows merging of atom clouds by unification of two Ioffe-Pritchard potentials is demonstrated.
Abstract: We demonstrate an integrated magnetic device which transports cold atoms near a surface with very high positioning accuracy. Time-dependent currents in a lithographic conductor pattern create a moving chain of potential wells; atoms are transported in these wells while remaining confined in all three dimensions. We achieve mean fluxes up to ${10}^{6}{\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}$ with a negligible heating rate. An extension of this device allows merging of atom clouds by unification of two Ioffe-Pritchard potentials. The unification, which we demonstrate experimentally, can be performed without loss of phase space density. This novel, all-magnetic atom manipulation offers exciting perspectives, such as trapped-atom interferometry.

196 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a configuration of a magnetic microtrap that can be used as an interferometer for three-dimensionalally trapped atoms is proposed, which is realized via a dynamic splitting potential that transforms from a single well into two separate wells and back.
Abstract: We propose a configuration of a magnetic microtrap that can be used as an interferometer for three-dimensionally trapped atoms. The interferometer is realized via a dynamic splitting potential that transforms from a single well into two separate wells and back. The ports of the interferometer are neighboring vibrational states in the single-well potential. We present a one-dimensional model of this interferometer and compute the probability of unwanted vibrational excitations for a realistic magnetic potential. We optimize the speed of the splitting process in order to suppress these excitations, and conclude that such interferometer device should be feasible with currently available microtrap technique.

141 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the de Broglie wave packet was used to guide the construction of a rotatable Ioffe-Pritchard trap for one-dimensional atomic collisions.
Abstract: Lithographically fabricated circuit patterns can provide magnetic guides and microtraps for cold neutral atoms. By combining several such structures on the same ceramic substrate, we have realized the first ‘atom chips’ that permit complex manipulations of ultracold trapped atoms or de Broglie wave packets. We show how to design magnetic potentials from simple conductor patterns and we describe an efficient trap-loading procedure in detail. Applying the design guide, we describe some new microtrap potentials, including a trap which reaches the Lamb–Dicke regime for rubidium atoms in all three dimensions, and a rotatable Ioffe–Pritchard trap, which we also demonstrate experimentally. Finally, we demonstrate a device allowing independent linear positioning of two atomic clouds which are very tightly confined laterally. This device is well suited for the study of one-dimensional collisions.

111 citations


Cited by
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Proceedings Article
14 Jul 1996
TL;DR: The striking signature of Bose condensation was the sudden appearance of a bimodal velocity distribution below the critical temperature of ~2µK.
Abstract: Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) has been observed in a dilute gas of sodium atoms. A Bose-Einstein condensate consists of a macroscopic population of the ground state of the system, and is a coherent state of matter. In an ideal gas, this phase transition is purely quantum-statistical. The study of BEC in weakly interacting systems which can be controlled and observed with precision holds the promise of revealing new macroscopic quantum phenomena that can be understood from first principles.

3,530 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce the concept of Fano resonances, which can be reduced to the interaction of a discrete (localized) state with a continuum of propagation modes, and explain their geometrical and/or dynamical origin.
Abstract: Modern nanotechnology allows one to scale down various important devices (sensors, chips, fibers, etc.) and thus opens up new horizons for their applications. The efficiency of most of them is based on fundamental physical phenomena, such as transport of wave excitations and resonances. Short propagation distances make phase-coherent processes of waves important. Often the scattering of waves involves propagation along different paths and, as a consequence, results in interference phenomena, where constructive interference corresponds to resonant enhancement and destructive interference to resonant suppression of the transmission. Recently, a variety of experimental and theoretical work has revealed such patterns in different physical settings. The purpose of this review is to relate resonant scattering to Fano resonances, known from atomic physics. One of the main features of the Fano resonance is its asymmetric line profile. The asymmetry originates from a close coexistence of resonant transmission and resonant reflection and can be reduced to the interaction of a discrete (localized) state with a continuum of propagation modes. The basic concepts of Fano resonances are introduced, their geometrical and/or dynamical origin are explained, and theoretical and experimental studies of light propagation in photonic devices, charge transport through quantum dots, plasmon scattering in Josephson-junction networks, and matter-wave scattering in ultracold atom systems, among others are reviewed.

2,520 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
06 Jun 2003
TL;DR: This work demonstrates a process for producing silica toroid-shaped microresonators-on-a-chip with Q factors in excess of 100 million using a combination of lithography, dry etching and a selective reflow process, representing an improvement of nearly four orders of magnitude over previous chip-based resonators.
Abstract: We demonstrate microfabrication of ultra-high-Q microcavities on a chip, exhibiting a novel toroid-shaped geometry. The cavities possess Q-factors in excess of 100 million which constitutes an improvement close to 4 orders-of-magnitude in Q compared to previous work [B. Gayral, et al., 1999].

2,177 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors review recent developments in the physics of ultracold atomic and molecular gases in optical lattices and show how these systems may be employed as quantum simulators to answer some challenging open questions of condensed matter, and even high energy physics.
Abstract: We review recent developments in the physics of ultracold atomic and molecular gases in optical lattices. Such systems are nearly perfect realisations of various kinds of Hubbard models, and as such may very well serve to mimic condensed matter phenomena. We show how these systems may be employed as quantum simulators to answer some challenging open questions of condensed matter, and even high energy physics. After a short presentation of the models and the methods of treatment of such systems, we discuss in detail, which challenges of condensed matter physics can be addressed with (i) disordered ultracold lattice gases, (ii) frustrated ultracold gases, (iii) spinor lattice gases, (iv) lattice gases in “artificial” magnetic fields, and, last but not least, (v) quantum information processing in lattice gases. For completeness, also some recent progress related to the above topics with trapped cold gases will be discussed. Motto: There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your...

1,535 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The development of wave optics for light brought many new insights into our understanding of physics, driven by fundamental experiments like the ones by Young, Fizeau, Michelson-Morley and others as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The development of wave optics for light brought many new insights into our understanding of physics, driven by fundamental experiments like the ones by Young, Fizeau, Michelson-Morley and others. Quantum mechanics, and especially the de Broglie’s postulate relating the momentum p of a particle to the wave vector k of an matter wave: k = 2 λ = p/ℏ, suggested that wave optical experiments should be also possible with massive particles (see table 1), and over the last 40 years electron and neutron interferometers have demonstrated many fundamental aspects of quantum mechanics [1].

1,194 citations