173 research outputs found
Modulational instabilities in Josephson oscillations of elongated coupled condensates
We study the Josephson oscillations of two coupled elongated condensates.
Linearized calculations show that the oscillating mode uniform over the length
of the condensates (uniform Josephson mode) is unstable : modes of non zero
longitudinal momentum grow exponentially. In the limit of strong atom
interactions, we give scaling laws for the instability time constant and
unstable wave vectors. Beyond the linearized approach, numerical calculations
show a damped recurrence behavior : the energy in the Josephson mode presents
damped oscillations. Finally, we derive conditions on the confinement of the
condensates to prevent instabilities
Realizing a stable magnetic double-well potential on an atom chip
We discuss design considerations and the realization of a magnetic
double-well potential on an atom chip using current-carrying wires. Stability
requirements for the trapping potential lead to a typical size of order microns
for such a device. We also present experiments using the device to manipulate
cold, trapped atoms
Towards a monolithic optical cavity for atom detection and manipulation
We study a Fabry-Perot cavity formed from a ridge waveguide on a AlGaAs
substrate. We experimentally determined the propagation losses in the waveguide
at 780 nm, the wavelength of Rb atoms. We have also made a numerical and
analytical estimate of the losses induced by the presence of the gap which
would allow the interaction of cold atoms with the cavity field. We found that
the intrinsic finesse of the gapped cavity can be on the order of F ~ 30,
which, when one takes into account the losses due to mirror transmission,
corresponds to a cooperativity parameter for our system C ~ 1
Specular reflection of matter waves from a rough mirror
We have made a high resolution study of the specularity of the atomic reflection from an evanescent wave mirror using velocity selective Raman transitions. We have observed a double structure in the velocity distribution after reflection: a peak consistent with specular reflection and a diffuse reflection pedestal, whose contribution decreases rapidly with increasing detuning. The diffuse reflection is due to two distinct effects: spontaneous emission in the evanescent wave and a roughness in the evanescent wave potential whose amplitude is smaller than the de Broglie wavelength of the reflected atoms
Symmetric microwave potentials for interferometry with thermal atoms on a chip
International audienceA trapped atom interferometer involving state-selective adiabatic potentials with two microwave frequencies on a chip is proposed. We show that this configuration provides a way to achieve a high degree of symmetry between the two arms of the interferometer, which is necessary for coherent splitting and recombination of thermal (i.e., noncondensed) atoms. The resulting interferometer holds promise to achieve high contrast and long coherence time, while avoiding the mean-field interaction issues of interferometers based on trapped Bose-Einstein condensates
Effective spin model for interband transport in a Wannier-Stark lattice system
We show that the interband dynamics in a tilted two-band Bose-Hubbard model
can be reduced to an analytically accessible spin model in the case of resonant
interband oscillations. This allows us to predict the revival time of these
oscillations which decay and revive due to inter-particle interactions. The
presented mapping onto the spin model and the so achieved reduction of
complexity has interesting perspectives for future studies of many-body
systems.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Andreev bound states in high- superconducting junctions
The formation of bound states at surfaces of materials with an energy gap in
the bulk electron spectrum is a well known physical phenomenon. At
superconductor surfaces, quasiparticles with energies inside the
superconducting gap may be trapped in bound states in quantum wells,
formed by total reflection against the vacuum and total Andreev reflection
against the superconductor. Since an electron reflects as a hole and sends a
Cooper pair into the superconductor, the surface states give rise to resonant
transport of quasiparticle and Cooper pair currents, and may be observed in
tunneling spectra. In superconducting junctions, these surface states may
hybridize and form bound Andreev states, trapped between the superconducting
electrodes. In d-wave superconductors, the order parameter changes sign under
rotation and, as a consequence, Andreev reflection may lead to the
formation of zero energy quasiparticle bound states, midgap states (MGS). The
formation of MGS is a robust feature of d-wave superconductivity and provides a
unified framework for many important effects which will be reviewed: large
Josephson current, low-temperature anomaly of the critical Josephson current,
-junction behavior, junction crossover with temperature,
zero-bias conductance peaks, paramagnetic currents, time reversal symmetry
breaking, spontaneous interface currents, and resonance features in subgap
currents. Taken together these effects, when observed in experiments, provide
proof for d-wave superconductivity in the cuprates.Comment: 52 pages, 20 figures. Review article under consideration for
publication in Superconductor Science and Technolog
Investigation of the thermal stability of Mg/Co periodic multilayers for EUV applications
We present the results of the characterization of Mg/Co periodic multilayers
and their thermal stability for the EUV range. The annealing study is performed
up to a temperature of 400\degree C. Images obtained by scanning transmission
electron microscopy and electron energy loss spectroscopy clearly show the good
quality of the multilayer structure. The measurements of the EUV reflectivity
around 25 nm (~49 eV) indicate that the reflectivity decreases when the
annealing temperature increases above 300\degreeC. X-ray emission spectroscopy
is performed to determine the chemical state of the Mg atoms within the Mg/Co
multilayer. Nuclear magnetic resonance used to determine the chemical state of
the Co atoms and scanning electron microscopy images of cross sections of the
Mg/Co multilayers reveal changes in the morphology of the stack from an
annealing temperature of 305\degreee;C. This explains the observed reflectivity
loss.Comment: Published in Applied Physics A: Materials Science \& Processing
Published at
http://www.springerlink.com.chimie.gate.inist.fr/content/6v396j6m56771r61/ 21
page
Camparison of the Hanbury Brown-Twiss effect for bosons and fermions
Fifty years ago, Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) discovered photon bunching in
light emitted by a chaotic source, highlighting the importance of two-photon
correlations and stimulating the development of modern quantum optics . The
quantum interpretation of bunching relies upon the constructive interference
between amplitudes involving two indistinguishable photons, and its additive
character is intimately linked to the Bose nature of photons. Advances in atom
cooling and detection have led to the observation and full characterisation of
the atomic analogue of the HBT effect with bosonic atoms. By contrast, fermions
should reveal an antibunching effect, i.e., a tendency to avoid each other.
Antibunching of fermions is associated with destructive two-particle
interference and is related to the Pauli principle forbidding more than one
identical fermion to occupy the same quantum state. Here we report an
experimental comparison of the fermion and the boson HBT effects realised in
the same apparatus with two different isotopes of helium, 3He (a fermion) and
4He (a boson). Ordinary attractive or repulsive interactions between atoms are
negligible, and the contrasting bunching and antibunching behaviours can be
fully attributed to the different quantum statistics. Our result shows how
atom-atom correlation measurements can be used not only for revealing details
in the spatial density, or momentum correlations in an atomic ensemble, but
also to directly observe phase effects linked to the quantum statistics in a
many body system. It may thus find applications to study more exotic situations
>.Comment: Nature 445, 402 (2007). V2 includes the supplementary informatio
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