A small, pump-free source for cold and ultracold atoms Navy SBIR FY2010.2 Sol No.: Navy SBIR FY2010.2 Topic No.: N102-119 Topic Title: A small, pump-free source for cold and ultracold atoms Proposal No.: N102-119-0240 Firm: Triad Technology Inc. 3131 Indian Road, Suite B Boulder, Colorado 80301 Contact: K. Hughes Phone: (720) 494-0717 Web Site: [email protected] Abstract: A vacuum system with pressures typically below about 10-9 torr is required to mitigate thermal background collisions when producing Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) and other forms of ultracold matter. Traditional setups contain multiple vacuum chambers, often employ the use of large ion pumps, and take up significant space on a full-sized optical table. While ultracold matter has great potential in advanced applications, these large vacuum chambers and complex setups are considered a serious impediment to application development. In performing this project, Triad Technology will produce a vacuum chamber smaller than 5cm by 5cm by 5cm in size for use as a source of ultracold matter. The chamber will meet the necessary vacuum level requirements using a unique geometry that takes advantage of a novel processing and pumping techniques. Benefits: A miniaturized and simplified source of ultracold atoms will enable the development of mobile applications. Applications directly relevance to the commercial and Department of Defense marketplace include but not limited to the following: inertial sensing for navigation; gravity gradiometry for underground structure detection; magnetic sensing for submarine detection; better atomic time and frequency; and quantum computing for simulating quantum systems and code breaking. Return