  We demonstrate a novel atom chip trapping system that allows the placement
and high-resolution imaging of ultracold atoms within microns from any <100
um-thin, UHV-compatible material, while also allowing sample exchange with
minimal experimental downtime. The sample is not connected to the atom chip,
allowing rapid exchange without perturbing the atom chip or laser cooling
apparatus. Exchange of the sample and retrapping of atoms has been performed
within a week turnaround, limited only by chamber baking. Moreover, the
decoupling of sample and atom chip provides the ability to independently tune
the sample temperature and its position with respect to the trapped ultracold
gas, which itself may remain in the focus of a high-resolution imaging system.
As a first demonstration of this new system, we have confined a 700-nK cloud of
8x10^4 87Rb atoms within 100 um of a gold-mirrored 100-um-thick silicon
substrate. The substrate was cooled to 35 K without use of a heat shield, while
the atom chip, 120 um away, remained at room temperature. Atoms may be imaged
and retrapped every 16 s, allowing rapid data collection.
