COLDQUANTA, INC. — National Aeronautics and Space Administration SBIR Phase I: ColdQuanta's ultimate objective is to produce a compact, turnkey, ultracold-atom syst

Description

ColdQuanta's ultimate objective is to produce a compact, turnkey, ultracold-atom system specifically designed for performing interferometry with Bose-Einstein condensates. To produce ultracold-atom-based devices (e.g. inertial sensors, magnetometers, clocks, etc.) that can compete with existing technologies, higher fluxes and/or faster production rates will be needed over current state-of-the-art techniques.In this Phase I work effort, ColdQuanta will address this need for greater fluxes by investigating two approaches toward developing high-flux compact BEC-producing systems. The first approach targets systems that utilize ColdQuanta's RuBECi vacuum cell and its proven success at the heart of the world's smallest, fastest-producing, ultracold atom systems. Using numerical optimization, we will improve the speed and efficiency (i.e. reduce atom loss) of several key production steps, including faster trap loading from a cold-atom source and more efficient atom transfer between magnetic traps.In the second, higher payoff approach, we will investigate implementation of assembly-line production of BECs using vacuum cell construction that allows each stage of production to occur simultaneously throughout a series of interconnected vacuum chambers. The resulting system would create ultracold atoms quasi-continuously and increase production rates by virtually eliminating dead time between sequential operating cycles.