Nanoscale Measurement and Fabrication Using Laser-Controlled Atoms

Atoms on demand: single atoms, ordinarily arriving randomly (top)
are made available one at a time with 99% fidelity (bottom)

The central theme of this program is to develop innovative approaches to problems in nanoscale physics and technology using laser-based neutral atom manipulation techniques - for example, laser cooling, magneto-optical trapping, and atom-optical focusing. Laser light can control neutral atoms in remarkably diverse ways, ranging from quantum state-selection to trapping and cooling at the microkelvin level, and focusing to nanometer-scale dimensions. One of our approaches to using this control is to deterministically produce single atoms "on demand" for atom-by-atom control of matter. Another is to build nanostructures from the bottom up, allowing resist-free in situ fabrication of features as small as 30 nm. Our goal is to develop these approaches, and also discover new ones, with the aim of cultivating a cross-disciplinary synthesis of fundamental atomic physics and condensed matter nanotechnology.

Atom Optics Laboratory

Single-atom Based Metrology

• Optical detection of single rare-earth dopants

Novel Sources for Focused-ion Beams

• Magneto-optical trap-based ion source (MOTIS)

Laser Cooling of Rare-Earth Atoms

• Erbium magneto-optical trap
• Natural Linewidth of the 401-nm Laser-Cooling Transition in Erbium
• Laser cooling transitions in erbium
• Unexpectedly Low Temperatures in an Erbium MOT
• Laser Cooling Erbium to Ultracold Temperatures

Deterministic Control of Single Atoms

• A Fast Determinist Source of Single Cr Atoms
• Magneto-optical Trapping of Cr Atoms

Nanofabrication via Atom Optics

• Surface Growth in Laser-Focused Atomic Deposition
• Laser Collimation of a Chromium Beam
• Nanostructure fabrication by reactive-ion etching of laser-focused chromium on silicon
• Fabrication of Magnetic Nanowires
• Minimizing feature width in atom-optically fabricated Cr nanostructures
• Atom lithography with metastable atoms and H-passivated Si
• Nanofabrication of chromium lines by laser-focused atomic deposition
• Nanofabrication of a two-dimensional array of chromium "dots"
• Lambda/8 spatial frequency in the distribution of laser-focused atoms
• Lithography with metastable rare gas atoms
• Atom-optical calculations
• Chromium lines as a nanoscale length standard
• Optical Pumping in Chromium

Jabez J. McClelland - NIST
Brenton Knuffman - NIST
Adam Steele - NIST

Jon Orloff - FEI Co.

Bobby Anderson - Lighthouse, Inc.
Andrew Berglund - NIST
Curtis Bradley - Petroleum Institute, Dubai
Elizabeth Dakin - OADS, Inc.
Rajeev Gupta - Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP
James Hanssen - US Naval Observatory
Shannon Hill - NIST
Zeina Jabbour - NIST
Eric Palm - University of Florida
Marin Pichler - Goucher College
Michael Scheinfein - FEI Co.
Robert Scholten - University of Melbourne

Han Y. Ban, University of Pennsylvania
Andreas Bard - University of Hanover
Karl K. Berggren - Harvard University
Stephen J. Buckman - Australian National University
K. J. Coakley - NIST
Harold G. Craighead - Cornell University
F. Barry Dunning - Rice University
John. D. Gillaspy - NIST
Christian A. Haich - Rice University
J. Han - Cornell University
G. Friedrich Hanne - University Muenster
Andreas G. Helg - Harvard University
Ingolf V. Hertel - University Freiburg
J. Hohlfeld - University of Nijmegen
Marcus Jacka - University of York, UK
Erich Jurdik - University of Nijmegen
Siu Au Lee - Colorado State University
M. S. Levenson - formerly of NIST
Peter Marte - Harvard University
Grzegorz Myskiewicz - University of Nijmegen
William D. Phillips - NIST
G. A. Porkolab - Laboratory for Physical Sciences
Mara Prentiss - Harvard University
Dong Qin - Harvard University
Th. Rasing - University of Nijmegen
Steven L. Rolston - University of Maryland
Lydia L. Sohn - Princeton University
David M. Tanenbaum - Pomona College
Eite Tiesinga - NIST
H. van Kempen - University of Nijmegen
Mark G. Vangel - Massachusetts General Hospital
Mirek Walkiewicz - University of Melbourne
G. King Walters - Rice University
George M. Whitesides - Harvard University
James L. Wilbur - Harvard University
Younan Xia - Harvard University
Xiao-Mei Zhao - Harvard University

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Online: May 1996
Last update: January 2009

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