Abstract:
Coherent guiding of atoms in two-colour evanescent light fields of two main single modes of suspended optical rib waveguides is investigated theoretically. Special attention is paid to waveguides of widths larger than the wavelength of light, which provide better lateral stability of the surface traps and waveguides, and can be used in coherent Bragg beam splitters for matter waves, based on optical gratings formed by interference of evanescent light waves of two crossed optical waveguides. A single-mode regime for evanescent-wave waveguides for atoms is investigated. The general structure and key elements of all-optical atom chips are discussed. The current progress in manufacturing of the corresponding suspended optical rib waveguides is reported.
Biography:
Yuri Ovchinnikov has graduated the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in 1986 and after that has joined the Institute of Spectroscopy of RAS (Troitsk, Russia), where in 1993 he has acquired PhD degree for the investigation of induced light forces on atoms. From 1995 until 1997 he was a Humboldt Fellow at the Max-Planck-Institute für Kernphysik (Heidelberg, Germany) working on light forces and traps for neutral atoms. Between 1998 and 2000 he was working as a Guest Researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (Gaithersburg, USA) on investigation of the interaction of the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with light and its applications to atom optics and interferometry. From 2000 until 2003 he stayed at the University of Stuttgart (Germany), where he was leading the Rb BEC project and in parallel was working on a novel multimode optical interferometer. In 2002 he was awarded the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award for his international input in development of atom optics and invention of a new type of light interferometer by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Since 2003 he is working at NPL (UK) on atomic clocks and atom interferometry. Since 2011 he is an Honorary Professor of the University College London.
The main scientific interests of Yuri are related to laser cooling and trapping of atoms, atom optics, Bose-Einstein-Condensation of diluted neutral atoms and light optics.
