We have investigated Bose-Einstein condensates and ultra cold atoms in the vicinity of a surface of a magnetic microtrap. The atoms are prepared along copper conductors at distances to the surface between 300 um and 20 um. In this range, the lifetime decreases from 20 s to 0.7 s showing a linear dependence on the distance to the surface. The atoms manifest a weak thermal coupling to the surface, with measured heating rates remaining below 500 nK/s. In addition, we observe a periodic fragmentation of the condensate and thermal clouds when the surface is approached.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0205310,
title = {Surface Effects in Magnetic Microtraps},
author = {J. Fortagh and H. Ott and S. Kraft and C. Zimmermann},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0205310},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 4 figures; v2: corrected references; v3: final version