In cold-atom chips, atoms are guided above tracks of wires that supply the magnetic field to keep them aloft. In applications ranging from quantum information processing to metrology, any deviation in the magnetic field from point to point over the chip could influence the delicate state of the atoms. Terraciano et al. introduce a technique that takes a snapshot image of the magnetic field landscape. Using a cloud of cold rubidium atoms, whose energy levels are sensitive to magnetic field, they let the cloud fall toward the chip and probe the atoms' state with a laser beam tuned to one of the magnetic transitions.
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