469 research outputs found
Deconstructing Decoherence
The study of environmentally induced superselection and of the process of
decoherence was originally motivated by the search for the emergence of
classical behavior out of the quantum substrate, in the macroscopic limit. This
limit, and other simplifying assumptions, have allowed the derivation of
several simple results characterizing the onset of environmentally induced
superselection; but these results are increasingly often regarded as a complete
phenomenological characterization of decoherence in any regime. This is not
necessarily the case: The examples presented in this paper counteract this
impression by violating several of the simple ``rules of thumb''. This is
relevant because decoherence is now beginning to be tested experimentally, and
one may anticipate that, in at least some of the proposed applications (e.g.,
quantum computers), only the basic principle of ``monitoring by the
environment'' will survive. The phenomenology of decoherence may turn out to be
significantly different.Comment: 13 two-column pages, 3 embedded figure
The Fermi accelerator in atom optics
We study the classical and quantum dynamics of a Fermi accelerator realized
by an atom bouncing off a modulated atomic mirror. We find that in a window of
the modulation amplitude dynamical localization occurs in both position and
momentum. A recent experiment [A. Steane, P. Szriftgiser, P. Desbiolles, and J.
Dalibard, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 74}, 4972 (1995)] shows that this system can be
implemented experimentally.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Coherent Evolution of Bouncing Bose-Einstein Condensates
We investigate the evolution of Bose-Einstein condensates falling under
gravity and bouncing off a mirror formed by a far-detuned sheet of light. After
reflection, the atomic density profile develops splitting and interference
structures which depend on the drop height, on the strength of the light sheet,
as well as on the initial mean field energy and size of the condensate. We
compare experimental results with simulations of the Gross-Pitaevski equation.
A comparison with the behaviour of bouncing thermal clouds allows to identify
quantum features specific for condensates.Comment: 4 page
Quantum damping of position due to energy measurements
Quantum theory for measurements of energy is introduced and its consequences
for the average position of monitored dynamical systems are analyzed. It turns
out that energy measurements lead to a localization of the expectation values
of other observables. This is manifested, in the case of position, as a damping
of the motion without classical analogue. Quantum damping of position for an
atom bouncing on a reflecting surface in presence of a homogeneous
gravitational field is dealt in detail and the connection with an experiment
already performed in the classical regime is studied. We show that quantum
damping is testable provided that the same measurement strength obtained in the
experimental verification of the quantum Zeno effect in atomic spectroscopy [W.
M. Itano et al., Phys. Rev. A {\bf 41}, 2295 (1990)] is made available.Comment: 19 pages + 4 figures available upon request; Plain REVTeX; To be
published in Phys. Rev.
Optics with an Atom Laser Beam
We report on the atom optical manipulation of an atom laser beam. Reflection,
focusing and its storage in a resonator are demonstrated. Precise and versatile
mechanical control over an atom laser beam propagating in an inhomogeneous
magnetic field is achieved by optically inducing spin-flips between atomic
ground states with different magnetic moment. The magnetic force acting on the
atoms can thereby be effectively switched on and off. The surface of the atom
optical element is determined by the resonance condition for the spin-flip in
the inhomogeneous magnetic field. A mirror reflectivity of more than 98% is
measured
Substrate-based atom waveguide using guided two-color evanescent light fields
We propose a dipole-force linear waveguide which confines neutral atoms up to
lambda/2 above a microfabricated single-mode dielectric optical guide. The
optical guide carries far blue-detuned light in the horizontally-polarized TE
mode and far red-detuned light in the vertically-polarized TM mode, with both
modes close to optical cut-off. A trapping minimum in the transverse plane is
formed above the optical guide due to the differing evanescent decay lengths of
the two modes. This design allows manufacture of mechanically stable
atom-optical elements on a substrate. We calculate the full vector bound modes
for an arbitrary guide shape using two-dimensional non-uniform finite elements
in the frequency-domain, allowing us to optimize atom waveguide properties. We
find that a rectangular optical guide of 0.8um by 0.2um carrying 6mW of total
laser power (detuning +-15nm about the D2 line) gives a trap depth of 200uK for
cesium atoms (m_F = 0), transverse oscillation frequencies of f_x = 40kHz and
f_y = 160kHz, collection area ~ 1um^2 and coherence time of 9ms. We discuss the
effects of non-zero m_F, surface interactions, heating rate, the substrate
refractive index, and the limits on waveguide bending radius.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, revtex, submitted to Phys. Rev. A Replaced:
final version accepted by PRA v.61 Feb 2000. (2 paragraphs added
Quantum Revivals in Periodically Driven Systems close to nonlinear resonance
We calculate the quantum revival time for a wave-packet initially well
localized in a one-dimensional potential in the presence of an external
periodic modulating field. The dependence of the revival time on various
parameters of the driven system is shown analytically. As an example of
application of our approach, we compare the analytically obtained values of the
revival time for various modulation strengths with the numerically computed
ones in the case of a driven gravitational cavity. We show that they are in
very good agreement.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figur
Fractional quantum revivals in the atomic gravitational cavity
In this paper we discuss the quantum dynamics and fractional quantum revivals of an integrable nonlinear system, consisting of an atom bouncing vertically from an evanescent field, for two cases with the simplified infinite-potential and the more practical exponential potential, respectively. We study the two cases separately, then contrast and compare the results and reach the conclusion that provided the starting position of the atoms is not too close to the reflecting surface supporting the evanescent wave (this condition is always satisfied in present experiments in this field), the two cases will produce the same results. This means that the idealized infinite potential is a good approximation to the more realistic exponential potential. Because the quantum analysis of the infinite-potential case is quite simple and straighforward (since its Schrödinger equation has analytical solutions), this will greatly simplify the quantum analysis of the more complicated exponential potential case and hence has practical significance
Physics with Coherent Matter Waves
This review discusses progress in the new field of coherent matter waves, in
particular with respect to Bose-Einstein condensates. We give a short
introduction to Bose-Einstein condensation and the theoretical description of
the condensate wavefunction. We concentrate on the coherence properties of this
new type of matter wave as a basis for fundamental physics and applications.
The main part of this review treats various measurements and concepts in the
physics with coherent matter waves. In particular we present phase manipulation
methods, atom lasers, nonlinear atom optics, optical elements, interferometry
and physics in optical lattices. We give an overview of the state of the art in
the respective fields and discuss achievements and challenges for the future
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