Microwave near-fields on atom chips

Microwave near-fields are a key ingredient for quantum information processing with atom chips. Our goal is to realize a quantum gate with the following features: the qubit is encoded in the hyperfine states |1rang equiv |F=1, m_F=-1rang and |2rang equiv |F=2, m_F=+1rang of ⁸⁷Rb, which are both magnetically trappable and allow for very long coherence lifetimes. Microwave near-fields guided on the atom chip are used to drive single-qubit rotations and provide state-selectivity to the magnetic trapping potential. The quantum phase gate is implemented by state-selective collisions of two qubit atoms in this potential. Besides applications in quantum information processing, microwave near-fieIds on atom chips can also be used for atom interferometry and chip-based atomic clocks.