Single-Beam Bose-Einstein Condensate Source: A Demonstration of Optical-Grating and Magnetic Chip Hybridization for Onboard Quantum Sensors

Compact, robust ultracold atomic sources are essential for onboard quantum sensors with applications in inertial sensing and geodesy. However, producing ultracold atoms like Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) increases the complexity of the system and often involves low production rates and high power consumption. Atom chips [1] offer rapid ultracold atom production through tight magnetic traps and are compatible with onboard experiments [2]. To address challenges such as optical beam alignment, grating magneto-optical traps (GMOTs) [3] have been developed, facilitating miniaturization of atomic clocks [4] and atom interferometers [5].