Eur. Phys. J. D 35, 87-95 (2005)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2005-00203-9

Reduction of magnetic noise in atom chips by material optimization

¹ Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be'er Sheva 84105, Israel
² Institut für Physik, Universität Potsdam, 14469 Potsdam, Germany

Corresponding author: ^a dikovsky@bgumail.bgu.ac.il

Received: 16 January 2005
Revised: 20 February 2005
Published online: 26 July 2005

Abstract

We discuss the influence of the material type in metal wires to the electromagnetic fluctuations in magnetic microtraps close to the surface of an atom chip. We show that significant reduction of the magnetic noise can be achieved by replacing the pure noble metal wires with their dilute alloys. The alloy composition provides an additional degree of freedom which enables a controlled reduction of both magnetic noise and resistivity if the atom chip is cooled. In addition, we provide a careful re-analysis of the magnetically induced trap loss observed by Yu-Ju Lin et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 050404 (2004)] and find good agreement with an improved theory.