Ultracold atoms produced in portable device

According to the project, portable clocks, magnetometers and accelerometers have wide ranging applications, including navigation on earth and in space, telecomunications, geological exploration and medical imaging. In the project, carried out jointly between University of Strathclyde, Imperial College London, University of Glasgow and the National Physical Laboratory, the researchers developed technology said to be far more compact than previous setups, but which can still cool and trap large numbers of atoms for use in portable devices. This has been achieved by patterning the surface of a semiconductor chip to form a diffraction grating, splitting a laser into many beams that cool the atoms. Dr Aidan Arnold, a lecturer in Strathclyde's Department of Physics said: "The longer the transition of atoms can be observed, the more precisely they can be measured. It is possible to shine laser light on atoms to slow them down using the Doppler effect. We can now do this in a really small device." Professor Ed Hinds, director of the Centre for Cold Matter in Imperial's Department of Physics, added: "These microfabricated diffraction gratings create the perfect laser beams for trapping and cooling atoms."