273 research outputs found
Hydrodynamic flow of expanding Bose-Einstein condensates
We study expansion of quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC)
after switching off the confining harmonic potential. Exact solution of
dynamical equations is obtained in framework of the hydrodynamic approximation
and it is compared with the direct numerical simulation of the full problem
showing excellent agreement at realistic values of physical parameters. We
analyze the maximum of the current density and estimate the velocity of
expansion. The results of the 1D analysis provides also qualitative
understanding of some properties of BEC expansion observed in experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, RevTeX4. To appear in Physical Review
Band Gaps for Atoms in Light based Waveguides
The energy spectrum for a system of atoms in a periodic potential can exhibit
a gap in the band structure. We describe a system in which a laser is used to
produce a mechanical potential for the atoms, and a standing wave light field
is used to shift the atomic levels using the Autler-Townes effect, which
produces a periodic potential. The band structure for atoms guided by a hollow
optical fiber waveguide is calculated in three dimensions with quantised
external motion. The size of the band gap is controlled by the light guided by
the fiber. This variable band structure may allow the construction of devices
which can cool atoms. The major limitation on this device would be the
spontaneous emission losses.Comment: 7 pages, four postscript figures, uses revtex.sty, available through
http://online.anu.edu.au/Physics/papers/atom.htm
Extending the bandwidth of optical-tweezers interferometry
The extension of the bandwidth of optical-tweezers interferometry was discussed. It was found that the detection bandwidth was extended to at least 100 KHz, either by using wavelengths below 850 nm or by using different detectors at longer wavelengths. The power spectral density of the Brownian motion of micron-sized beads in optical tweezers was also measured
On the 3-particle scattering continuum in quasi one dimensional integer spin Heisenberg magnets
We analyse the three-particle scattering continuum in quasi one dimensional
integer spin Heisenberg antiferromagnets within a low-energy effective field
theory framework. We exactly determine the zero temperature dynamical structure
factor in the O(3) nonlinear sigma model and in Tsvelik's Majorana fermion
theory. We study the effects of interchain coupling in a Random Phase
Approximation. We discuss the application of our results to recent
neutron-scattering experiments on the Haldane-gap material .Comment: 8 pages of revtex, 5 figures, small changes, to appear in PR
Evaporative cooling of trapped fermionic atoms
We propose an efficient mechanism for the evaporative cooling of trapped
fermions directly into quantum degeneracy. Our idea is based on an electric
field induced elastic interaction between trapped atoms in spin symmetric
states. We discuss some novel general features of fermionic evaporative cooling
and present numerical studies demonstrating the feasibility for the cooling of
alkali metal fermionic species Li, K, and Rb. We also
discuss the sympathetic cooling of fermionic hyperfine spin mixtures, including
the effects of anisotropic interactions.Comment: to be publishe
Quantum dynamics of evaporatively cooled Bose-Einstein Condensates
We report on dynamical simulations of Bose-Einstein condensation via
evaporative cooling in an atomic trap. The results show evidence for
spontaneous vortex formation and quantum dynamics in small traps.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Trapping of Single Atoms with Single Photons in Cavity QED
Two recent experiments have reported the trapping of individual atoms inside
optical resonators by the mechanical forces associated with single photons
[Hood et al., Science 287, 1447 (2000) and Pinkse et al., Nature 404, 365
(2000)]. Here we analyze the trapping dynamics in these settings, focusing on
two points of interest. Firstly, we investigate the extent to which
light-induced forces in these experiments are distinct from their free-space
counterparts. Secondly, we explore the quantitative features of the resulting
atomic motion and how these dynamics are mapped onto variations of the
intracavity field. Not surprisingly, qualitatively distinct atomic dynamics
arise as the coupling and dissipative rates are varied. For the experiment of
Hood et al., we show that atomic motion is largely conservative and is
predominantly in radial orbits transverse to the cavity axis. A comparison with
the free-space theory demonstrates that the fluctuations of the dipole force
are suppressed by an order of magnitude. This effect is based upon the
Jaynes-Cummings eigenstates of the atom-cavity system and represents
qualitatively new physics for optical forces at the single-photon level. By
contrast, even in a regime of strong coupling in the experiment of Pinkse et
al., there are only small quantitative distinctions between the free-space
theory and the quantum theory, so it is not clear that description of this
experiment as a novel single-quantum trapping effect is necessary. The atomic
motion is strongly diffusive, leading to an average localization time
comparable to the time for an atom to transit freely through the cavity and to
a reduction in the ability to infer aspects of the atomic motion from the
intracavity photon number.Comment: 19 pages, 22 figure files, REVTEX, corrected spelling, LaTeX now
produces postscript which includes figures, minor changes to figures. Final
version to be published in Physical Review A, expanded summary of results in
introduction, minor changes to figures and tex
Nonlinear atom optics and bright gap soliton generation in finite optical lattices
We theoretically investigate the transmission dynamics of coherent matter
wave pulses across finite optical lattices in both the linear and the nonlinear
regimes. The shape and the intensity of the transmitted pulse are found to
strongly depend on the parameters of the incident pulse, in particular its
velocity and density: a clear physical picture for the main features observed
in the numerical simulations is given in terms of the atomic band dispersion in
the periodic potential of the optical lattice. Signatures of nonlinear effects
due the atom-atom interaction are discussed in detail, such as atom optical
limiting and atom optical bistability. For positive scattering lengths, matter
waves propagating close to the top of the valence band are shown to be subject
to modulational instability. A new scheme for the experimental generation of
narrow bright gap solitons from a wide Bose-Einstein condensate is proposed:
the modulational instability is seeded in a controlled way starting from the
strongly modulated density profile of a standing matter wave and the solitonic
nature of the generated pulses is checked from their shape and their
collisional properties
Nonlinear excitations in arrays of Bose-Einstein condensates
The dynamics of localized excitations in array of Bose-Einstein condensates
is investigated in the framework of the nonlinear lattice theory. The existence
of temporarily stable ground states displaying an atomic population
distributions localized on very few lattice sites (intrinsic localized modes),
as well as, of atomic population distributions involving many lattice sites
(envelope solitons), is studied both numerically and analytically. The origin
and properties of these modes are shown to be inherently connected with the
interplay between macroscopic quantum tunnelling and nonlinearity induced
self-trapping of atoms in coupled BECs. The phenomenon of Bloch oscillations of
these excitations is studied both for zero and non zero backgrounds. We find
that in a definite range of parameters, homogeneous distributions can become
modulationally unstable. We also show that bright solitons and excitations of
shock wave type can exist in BEC arrays even in the case of positive scattering
length. Finally, we argue that BEC array with negative scattering length in
presence of linear potentials can display collapse.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Optical Lattices: Theory
This chapter presents an overview of the properties of a Bose-Einstein
condensate (BEC) trapped in a periodic potential. This system has attracted a
wide interest in the last years, and a few excellent reviews of the field have
already appeared in the literature (see, for instance, [1-3] and references
therein). For this reason, and because of the huge amount of published results,
we do not pretend here to be comprehensive, but we will be content to provide a
flavor of the richness of this subject, together with some useful references.
On the other hand, there are good reasons for our effort. Probably, the most
significant is that BEC in periodic potentials is a truly interdisciplinary
problem, with obvious connections with electrons in crystal lattices, polarons
and photons in optical fibers. Moreover, the BEC experimentalists have reached
such a high level of accuracy to create in the lab, so to speak, paradigmatic
Hamiltonians, which were first introduced as idealized theoretical models to
study, among others, dynamical instabilities or quantum phase transitions.Comment: Chapter 13 in Part VIII: "Optical Lattices" of "Emergent Nonlinear
Phenomena in Bose-Einstein Condensates: Theory and Experiment," edited by P.
G. Kevrekidis, D. J. Frantzeskakis, and R. Carretero-Gonzalez (Springer
Series on Atomic, Optical, and Plasma Physics, 2007) - pages 247-26
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