Role of wire imperfections in micromagnetic traps for atoms

Abstract

The roughness in the magnitude of the magnetic field produced by a current carrying microwire was investigated quantitatively. The magnetic trap was produced by a current I flowing through a Z-shaped microwire, together with an external uniform magnetic field B0. A scanning electron microscope image of the wire was made, and the profile of the wire edges over the region explored by the atoms was also measured. The results show that the potential roughness is attributed to the geometric fluctuations of the wire edges.