TAILORED OPTICAL POTENTIALS FOR ATOMTRONIC DEVICES

Abstract

We demonstrate the feasibility of employing tailored optical potentials to manipulate clouds of ultra-cold atomic gases with sufficient precision for utilising them as practical quantum devices. Here, the mathematical background for computing smooth and repeatable optical potentials is presented in the context of the emerging field of atomtronics. Interactions between light and atoms are studied and modelled with real laboratory parameters to arrive at a comprehensive theoretical framework. This is then used for design of cooling and trapping apparatus that is later realised experimentally and described. The focus of this work is on realisation of a periodic optical potential for a superfluid atomtronic device that will be used as a well-defined flux qubit. Effects of introducing weak links into such device are presented. The experimental work performed in cooling dilute gases of rubidium-87 is demonstrated and methods for loading clouds of quantum degenerate gases into tailored optical potentials are analysed.