Guiding atoms on a chip

We demonstrate the guiding of neutral atoms by the magnetic fields due to microfabricated current-carrying wires on a chip. Cold cesium atoms, unloaded from a magnetooptical trap, are guided along a magnetic field minimum parallel to and above the current-carrying wires. Two guide configurations are demonstrated: one using two wires with an external magnetic field, and a second using four wires without an external field. These guide geometries can be extended to integrated atom optics circuits, including beamsplitters.