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One of the advantages of the atom chip is the proximity of the surface to the atoms, up to 1µm and even closer. This enables us to use the atoms as a very sensitive measuring tool to measure atom-surface interactions.
When a conductor is at room temperature, its electrons have a kinetic energy (random velocity) which translates into fluctuating magnetic fields. These fluctuations are known as Johnson or thermal noise. The fluctuating fields couple the magnetically trapped atoms to an un-trapped state and by measuring the loss of atoms the fluctuations of the electrons can be calculated. For more details see the "Anisotropic Materials" section.
The losses due to the Johnson noise increase as the atoms are brought closer to the surface. If the atom chip is made of an insulator, Johnson noise will be reduced. For this case, the atoms can be brought close enough to the surface and they will start to feel the attractive Casimir-Polder force. Casimir-Polder force exists also for conductors but the atoms can not be trapped close enough to measure it, they will be lost due to the Johnson noise.
In the "Carbon Nano-Tube" section we present a new trap based on a carbon nano-tube wire. This trap is close enough to the surface, so the Casimir-Polder force is an important factor in the considerations of the design of the trap.
News
September, 2008. For older news, see "What's New" section.
People
From right: Shimi Machluf and Jonathan Coslovsky
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Shimon Machluf - Ph.D.
student
email: machlufs@bgu.ac.il
phone: 972-8-6461902
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Jonathan Coslovsky - M.Sc. student
email: coslovsj@bgu.ac.il
phone: 972-8-6461892