60 research outputs found
Ground state energy of the two-dimensional weakly interacting Bose gas: First correction beyond Bogoliubov theory
We consider the grand potential of a two-dimensional weakly
interacting homogeneous Bose gas at zero temperature. Building on a
number-conserving Bogoliubov method for a lattice model in the grand canonical
ensemble, we calculate the next order term as compared to the Bogoliubov
prediction, in a systematic expansion of in powers of the parameter
measuring the weakness of the interaction. Our prediction is in very good
agreement with recent Monte Carlo calculations.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, published in Phys. Rev. Let
Theoretical Analysis of a Large Momentum Beamsplitter using Bloch Oscillations
In this paper, we present the implementation of Bloch oscillations in an
atomic interferometer to increase the separation of the two interfering paths.
A numerical model, in very good agreement with the experiment, is developed.
The contrast of the interferometer and its sensitivity to phase fluctuations
and to intensity fluctuations are also calculated. We demonstrate that the
sensitivity to phase fluctuations can be significantly reduced by using a
suitable arrangement of Bloch oscillations pulses
Observation of a 2D Bose-gas: from thermal to quasi-condensate to superfluid
We present experimental results on a Bose gas in a quasi-2D geometry near the
Berezinskii, Kosterlitz and Thouless (BKT) transition temperature. By measuring
the density profile, \textit{in situ} and after time of flight, and the
coherence length, we identify different states of the gas. In particular, we
observe that the gas develops a bimodal distribution without long range order.
In this state, the gas presents a longer coherence length than the thermal
cloud; it is quasi-condensed but is not superfluid. Experimental evidence
indicates that we observe the superfluid transition (BKT transition).Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Atom interferometers with scalable enclosed area
Bloch oscillations (i.e., coherent acceleration of matter waves by an optical
lattice) and Bragg diffraction are integrated into light-pulse atom
interferometers with large momentum splitting between the interferometer arms,
and hence enhanced sensitivity. Simultaneous acceleration of both arms in the
same internal states suppresses systematic effects, and simultaneously running
a pair of interferometers suppresses the effect of vibrations. Ramsey-Bord\'e
interferometers using four such Bloch-Bragg-Bloch (BBB) beam splitters exhibit
15% contrast at 24 splitting, the largest so far ( is the
photon momentum); single beam splitters achieve 88. The prospects for
reaching 100s of and applications like gravitational wave sensors are
discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Noise sensitivity of an atomic velocity sensor
We use Bloch oscillations to accelerate coherently Rubidium atoms. The
variation of the velocity induced by this acceleration is an integer number
times the recoil velocity due to the absorption of one photon. The measurement
of the velocity variation is achieved using two velocity selective Raman
pi-pulses: the first pulse transfers atoms from the hyperfine state 5S1/2 |F=2,
mF=0> to 5S1/2, |F=1, mF = 0> into a narrow velocity class. After the
acceleration of this selected atomic slice, we apply the second Raman pulse to
bring the resonant atoms back to the initial state 5S1/2, |F=2, mF = 0>. The
populations in (F=1 and F=2) are measured separately by using a one-dimensional
time-of-flight technique. To plot the final velocity distribution we repeat
this procedure by scanning the Raman beam frequency of the second pulse. This
two pi-pulses system constitutes then a velocity sensor. Any noise in the
relative phase shift of the Raman beams induces an error in the measured
velocity. In this paper we present a theoretical and an experimental analysis
of this velocity sensor, which take into account the phase fluctuations during
the Raman pulses
Large Momentum Beamsplitter using Bloch Oscillations
The sensitivity of an inertial sensor based on an atomic interfermometer is
proportional to the velocity separation of atoms in the two arms of the
interferometer. In this paper we describe how Bloch oscillations can be used to
increase this separation and to create a large momentum transfer (LMT)
beamsplitter. We experimentally demonstrate a separation of 10 recoil
velocities. Light shifts during the acceleration introduce phase fluctuations
which can reduce the contrast of the interferometer. We precisely calculate
this effect and demonstrate that it can be significantly reduced by using a
suitable combination of LMT pulses. We finally show that this method seems to
be very promising to realize LMT beamsplitter with several 10s of recoil and a
very good efficiency
Quantized Rotation of Atoms From Photons with Orbital Angular Momentum
We demonstrate the coherent transfer of the orbital angular momentum of a
photon to an atom in quantized units of hbar, using a 2-photon stimulated Raman
process with Laguerre-Gaussian beams to generate an atomic vortex state in a
Bose-Einstein condensate of sodium atoms. We show that the process is coherent
by creating superpositions of different vortex states, where the relative phase
between the states is determined by the relative phases of the optical fields.
Furthermore, we create vortices of charge 2 by transferring to each atom the
orbital angular momentum of two photons.Comment: New version, 4 pages and 3 figures, accepted for publication in
Physical Review Letter
Gravitational Redshift, Equivalence Principle, and Matter Waves
We review matter wave and clock comparison tests of the gravitational
redshift. To elucidate their relationship to tests of the universality of free
fall (UFF), we define scenarios wherein redshift violations are coupled to
violations of UFF ("type II"), or independent of UFF violations ("type III"),
respectively. Clock comparisons and atom interferometers are sensitive to
similar effects in type II and precisely the same effects in type III
scenarios, although type III violations remain poorly constrained. Finally, we
describe the "Geodesic Explorer," a conceptual spaceborne atom interferometer
that will test the gravitational redshift with an accuracy 5 orders of
magnitude better than current terrestrial redshift experiments for type II
scenarios and 12 orders of magnitude better for type III.Comment: Work in progress. 11 page
Superfluid behaviour of a two-dimensional Bose gas
Two-dimensional (2D) systems play a special role in many-body physics.
Because of thermal fluctuations, they cannot undergo a conventional phase
transition associated to the breaking of a continuous symmetry. Nevertheless
they may exhibit a phase transition to a state with quasi-long range order via
the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) mechanism. A paradigm example is the
2D Bose fluid, such as a liquid helium film, which cannot Bose-condense at
non-zero temperature although it becomes superfluid above a critical phase
space density. Ultracold atomic gases constitute versatile systems in which the
2D quasi-long range coherence and the microscopic nature of the BKT transition
were recently explored. However, a direct observation of superfluidity in terms
of frictionless flow is still missing for these systems. Here we probe the
superfluidity of a 2D trapped Bose gas with a moving obstacle formed by a
micron-sized laser beam. We find a dramatic variation of the response of the
fluid, depending on its degree of degeneracy at the obstacle location. In
particular we do not observe any significant heating in the central, highly
degenerate region if the velocity of the obstacle is below a critical value.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Proposal for new experimental schemes to realize the Avogadro constant
We propose two experimental schemes to determine and so to realize the
Avogadro constant at the level of 10 or better with a watt
balance experiment and a cold atom experiment measuring (where is
the Planck constant and the mass of the atom ). We give some
prospects about achievable uncertainties and we discuss the opportunity to test
the existence of possible unknown correction factors for the Josephson effect
and quantum Hall effect
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