We describe the fabrication and construction of a setup for creating latticesof magnetic microtraps for ultracold atoms on an atom chip. The lattice isdefined by lithographic patterning of a permanent magnetic film. Patternedmagnetic-film atom chips enable a large variety of trapping geometries over awide range of length scales. We demonstrate an atom chip with a latticeconstant of 10 $\mu$m, suitable for experiments in quantum information scienceemploying the interaction between atoms in highly-excited Rydberg energylevels. The active trapping region contains lattice regions with square andhexagonal symmetry, with the two regions joined at an interface. A structure ofmacroscopic wires, cut out of a silver foil, was mounted under the atom chip inorder to load ultracold $^{87}$Rb atoms into the microtraps. We demonstrateloading of atoms into the square and hexagonal lattice sections simultaneouslyand show resolved imaging of individual lattice sites. Magnetic-film latticeson atom chips provide a versatile platform for experiments with ultracoldatoms, in particular for quantum information science and quantum simulation.
展开▼