Improved trapping and transport of cold atoms for magnetic microscopy

Using cold atoms, a very sensitive and high resolution magnetic and electric field sensor can be realised. Ultra-close trapping of atoms would improve the resolution of cold-atom based surface probes. The limitation on the trapping distance arises from strongly distance-dependent effects such as Casimir force, Johnson noise etc. We are constructing an experimental system to trap atoms at surface separations of less than a micron. We will demonstrate the possibility of using special surfaces such as silicon nitride membranes and graphene for sub-micron trapping. We have designed a 10-layer printed circuit board, which can magnetically trap the cold atom cloud and transport it precisely to a desired location. This gives us the ability to study multiple samples within the same vacuum environment. In order to achieve higher atom number in the initial trapping stages, we use a dual-color MOT technique for Rb-87 atoms. Using this technique we achieve a significant increase in atom number and decrease in temperature. In this talk, I will present the results of the dual color MOT. I will also report on results related to magnetic transport and sub-micron trapping of atoms.