Immersing carbon nanotubes in cold atomic gases

Abstract

We investigate the sympathetic relaxation of a free-standing, vibrating carbon nano-tube that is mounted on an atom chip and is immersed in a cloud of ultra-cold atoms. Gas atoms colliding with the nano-tube excite phonons via a Casimir-Polder potential. We use Fermi's Golden Rule to estimate the relaxation rates for relevant experimental parameters and develop a fully dynamic theory of relaxation for the multi-mode phononic field embedded in a thermal atomic reservoir. Based on currently available experimental data, we identify the relaxation rates as a function of atom density and temperature that are required for sympathetic ground state cooling of carbon nano-tubes.

Fifteen years of cold matter on the atom chip: promise, realizations, and prospects

“…In a related implementation, cold atoms were used in a scanning probe microscopy configuration to measure CNT surface structures [ 269 ]. In addition, because the BEC and the nanotube are comparable in size and mass, it may be possible to use the atoms to cool the nanotube, leading ultimately to its vibrational ground state [ 270 ].…”

Classical Casimir-Polder force between polarizable microparticles and thin films including graphene

“…With discovery of graphene and other carbon nanostructures (see reviews in Refs. [26,27]) a lot of attention has been paid to the interaction of these nanostructures with atoms, molecules and other microparticles [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. This was motivated by both fundamental interest and prospective applications, e.g., to the problem of hydrogen storage [33,36].…”

Evaporative cooling of cold atoms at surfaces

“…There is potential to use such systems as quantum memory devices [13][14][15], precision measurement devices [16][17][18][19] and even rewritable electronic systems [20]. More recently, there have been proposals to use cold atoms to cool nanoscaled solid objects [21,22]; ion cooling using neutral atoms has already been demonstrated [23,24].…”