Atoms can be trapped and guided using nano-fabricated wires on surfaces, achieving the scales required by quantum information proposals. These Atom Chips form the basis for robust and widespread applications of cold atoms ranging from atom optics to fundamental questions in mesoscopic physics, and possibly quantum information systems. PACS number(s): 03.75.Be, 03.65.Nk Typeset using REVTEX

We present a generalization of the atom optics ABCD formalism which encapsulates atomic interactions in the aberrationless approximation. Interactions are modelled through an effective atom-optical lens term determined perturbatively from the linear evolution. We apply this approach to the determination of interaction effects in a free-falling cloud and to the derivation of a stability conditio...

We develop the theory of the two-dimensional motion of cold atoms in a near-resonant annular laser beam. For a reddetuned field the laser beam provides an annular light shift potential and the atomic motion divides into vibrational and rotational normal motions analogous to a two-dimensional molecule. In the ground vibrational state we obtain an atom optics realization of a two-dimensional rota...

Gap-acoustic solitons (GASs), which make use of the nearly universal electrostrictive light-sound interaction, offer promising new avenues for slowing light. Optical gap solitons exist inside the frequency region of the band gap created by a Bragg grating. The Bragg grating, which may be considered as a distributed mirror for wavelengths in phase with it, keeps low-intensity light out of the ga...

Bragg scattering has been observed for free electrons using a standing wave of light. Both the rocking curve and the angular electron distribution have been measured. The results of a numerical simulation to the Schrödinger equation are consistent with our experimental data. Unlike the diffraction regime which uses thin crystals, the Bragg regime requires the use of thick crystals. We point out...