Design and Characterization of a Field-Switchable Nanomagnetic Atom Mirror

Abstract

We present a design for a switchable nanomagnetic atom mirror formed by an array of 180° domain walls confined within Ni80Fe20 planar nanowires. A simple analytical model is developed which allows the magnetic field produced by the domain wall array to be calculated. This model is then used to optimize the geometry of the nanowires so as to maximize the reflectivity of the atom mirror. We then describe the fabrication of a nanowire array and characterize its magnetic behavior using magneto-optic Kerr effect magnetometry, scanning Hall probe microscopy and micromagnetic simulations, demonstrating how the mobility of the domain walls allow the atom mirror to be switched "on" and "off" in a manner which would be impossible for conventional designs. Finally, we model the reflection of 87Rb atoms from the atom mirror's surface, showing that our design is well suited for investigating interactions between domain walls and cold atoms.

To appear in Journal of Applied Physics. Volume 108, issue 3

References in corpus (5)

• Domain wall propagation in magnetic nanowires by spin polarized current injection
• Two-dimensional array of microtraps with atomic shift register on a chip
• One dimensional lattice of permanent magnetic microtraps for ultracold atoms on an atom chip
• Micron-sized atom traps made from magneto-optical thin films
• An atom mirror etched from a hard drive

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Manipulating ultracold atoms with a reconfigurable nanomagnetic system of domain walls
• Influence of the atomic-wall collision elasticity on the coherent population trapping resonance shape
• Nanomagnetic engineering of the properties of domain wall atom traps
• A simple model for calculating magnetic nanowire domain wall fringing fields