Editorial: Focus on Atom Optics and its Applications

Atom optics employs the modern techniques of quantum optics and laser cooling to enable applications which often outperform current standard technologies. Atomic matter wave interferometers allow for ultra-precise sensors; metrology and clocks are pushed to an extraordinary accuracy of 17 digits using single atoms. Miniaturization and integration are driven forward for both atomic clocks and atom optical circuits. With the miniaturization of information-storage and -processing devices, the scale of single atoms is approached in solid state devices, where the laws of quantum physics lead to novel, advantageous features and functionalities. An upcoming branch of atom optics is the control of single atoms, potentially allowing solid state devices to be built atom by atom; some of which would be applicable in future quantum information processing devices. Selective manipulation of individual atoms also enables trace analysis of extremely rare isotopes. Additionally, sources of neutral atoms with high brightness are being developed and, if combined with photo ionization, even novel focused ion beam sources are within reach. Ultracold chemistry is fertilized by atomic techniques, when reactions of chemical constituents are investigated between ions, atoms, molecules, trapped or aligned in designed fields and cooled to ultra-low temperatures such that the reaction kinetics can be studied in a completely state-resolved manner.

Focus on Atom Optics and its Applications Contents

Sensitive gravity-gradiometry with atom interferometry: progress towards an improved determination of the gravitational constant F Sorrentino, Y-H Lien, G Rosi, L Cacciapuoti, M Prevedelli and G M Tino

A single-atom detector integrated on an atom chip: fabrication, characterization and application D Heine, W Rohringer, D Fischer, M Wilzbach, T Raub, S Loziczky, XiYuan Liu, S Groth, B Hessmo and J Schmiedmayer

Interaction of a propagating guided matter wave with a localized potential G L Gattobigio, A Couvert, B Georgeot and D Guéry-Odelin

Analysis of the entanglement between two individual atoms using global Raman rotations A Gaëtan, C Evellin, J Wolters, P Grangier, T Wilk and A Browaeys

Spin polarization transfer in ground and metastable helium atom collisions D Vrinceanu and H R Sadeghpour

A fiber Fabry-Perot cavity with high finesse D Hunger, T Steinmetz, Y Colombe, C Deutsch, T W Hänsch and J Reichel

Atomic wave packets in amplitude-modulated vertical optical lattices A Alberti, G Ferrari, V V Ivanov, M L Chiofalo and G M Tino

Atom interferometry with trapped Bose-Einstein condensates: impact of atom-atom interactions Julian Grond, Ulrich Hohenester, Igor Mazets and Jörg Schmiedmayer

Storage of protonated water clusters in a biplanar multipole rf trap C Greve, M Kröner, S Trippel, P Woias, R Wester and M Weidemüller

Single-atom detection on a chip: from realization to application A Stibor, H Bender, S Kühnhold, J Fortágh, C Zimmermann and A Günther

Ultracold atoms as a target: absolute scattering cross-section measurements P Würtz, T Gericke, A Vogler and H Ott

Entanglement-assisted atomic clock beyond the projection noise limit Anne Louchet-Chauvet, Jürgen Appel, Jelmer J Renema, Daniel Oblak, Niels Kjaergaard and Eugene S Polzik

Towards the realization of atom trap trace analysis for ³⁹Ar J Welte, F Ritterbusch, I Steinke, M Henrich, W Aeschbach-Hertig and M K Oberthaler

Resonant superfluidity in an optical lattice I Titvinidze, M Snoek and W Hofstetter

Interference of interacting matter waves Mattias Gustavsson, Elmar Haller, Manfred J Mark, Johann G Danzl, Russell Hart, Andrew J Daley and Hanns-Christoph Nägerl

Magnetic trapping of NH molecules with 20 s lifetimes E Tsikata, W C Campbell, M T Hummon, H-I Lu and J M Doyle

Imprinting patterns of neutral atoms in an optical lattice using magnetic resonance techniques Michal Karski, Leonid Förster, Jai-Min Choi, Andreas Steffen, Noomen Belmechri, Wolfgang Alt, Dieter Meschede and Artur Widera

Frequency stability of optical lattice clocks Jérôme Lodewyck, Philip G Westergaard, Arnaud Lecallier, Luca Lorini and Pierre Lemonde

Ultracold quantum gases in triangular optical lattices C Becker, P Soltan-Panahi, J Kronjäger, S Dörscher, K Bongs and K Sengstock

Cold atoms near superconductors: atomic spin coherence beyond the Johnson noise limit B Kasch, H Hattermann, D Cano, T E Judd, S Scheel, C Zimmermann, R Kleiner, D Koelle and J Fortágh

Focusing a deterministic single-ion beam Wolfgang Schnitzler, Georg Jacob, Robert Fickler, Ferdinand Schmidt-Kaler and Kilian Singer

Tuning the structural and dynamical properties of a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate: ripples and instability islands M Asad-uz-Zaman and D Blume

Double-resonance lineshapes in a cell with wall coating and buffer gas Svenja Knappe and Hugh G Robinson

Transport and interaction blockade of cold bosonic atoms in a triple-well potential P Schlagheck, F Malet, J C Cremon and S M Reimann

Fabrication of a planar micro Penning trap and numerical investigations of versatile ion positioning protocols M Hellwig, A Bautista-Salvador, K Singer, G Werth and F Schmidt-Kaler

Laser cooling of a magnetically guided ultracold atom beam A Aghajani-Talesh, M Falkenau, V V Volchkov, L E Trafford, T Pfau and A Griesmaier

Creation efficiency of nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond S Pezzagna, B Naydenov, F Jelezko, J Wrachtrup and J Meijer

Top-down pathways to devices with few and single atoms placed to high precision Jessica A Van Donkelaar, Andrew D Greentree, Andrew D C Alves, Lenneke M Jong, Lloyd C L Hollenberg and David N Jamieson

Enhanced electric field sensitivity of rf-dressed Rydberg dark states M G Bason, M Tanasittikosol, A Sargsyan, A K Mohapatra, D Sarkisyan, R M Potvliege and C S Adams