203 research outputs found
Rb-85 tunable-interaction Bose-Einstein condensate machine
We describe our experimental setup for creating stable Bose-Einstein
condensates of Rb-85 with tunable interparticle interactions. We use
sympathetic cooling with Rb-87 in two stages, initially in a tight
Ioffe-Pritchard magnetic trap and subsequently in a weak, large-volume crossed
optical dipole trap, using the 155 G Feshbach resonance to manipulate the
elastic and inelastic scattering properties of the Rb-85 atoms. Typical Rb-85
condensates contain 4 x 10^4 atoms with a scattering length of a=+200a_0. Our
minimalist apparatus is well-suited to experiments on dual-species and spinor
Rb condensates, and has several simplifications over the Rb-85 BEC machine at
JILA (Papp, 2007; Papp and Wieman, 2006), which we discuss at the end of this
article.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
Quantum projection noise limited interferometry with coherent atoms in a Ramsey type setup
Every measurement of the population in an uncorrelated ensemble of two-level
systems is limited by what is known as the quantum projection noise limit.
Here, we present quantum projection noise limited performance of a Ramsey type
interferometer using freely propagating coherent atoms. The experimental setup
is based on an electro-optic modulator in an inherently stable Sagnac
interferometer, optically coupling the two interfering atomic states via a
two-photon Raman transition. Going beyond the quantum projection noise limit
requires the use of reduced quantum uncertainty (squeezed) states. The
experiment described demonstrates atom interferometry at the fundamental noise
level and allows the observation of possible squeezing effects in an atom
laser, potentially leading to improved sensitivity in atom interferometers.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, published in Phys. Rev.
11 W narrow linewidth laser source at 780nm for laser cooling and manipulation of Rubidium
We present a narrow linewidth continuous laser source with over 11 Watts of
output power at 780nm, based on single-pass frequency doubling of an amplified
1560nm fibre laser with 36% efficiency. This source offers a combination of
high power, simplicity, mode quality and stability. Without any active
stabilization, the linewidth is measured to be below 10kHz. The fibre seed is
tunable over 60GHz, which allows access to the D2 transitions in 87Rb and 85Rb,
providing a viable high-power source for laser cooling as well as for
large-momentum-transfer beamsplitters in atom interferometry. Sources of this
type will pave the way for a new generation of high flux, high duty-cycle
degenerate quantum gas experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Bosenova and three-body loss in a Rb-85 Bose-Einstein condensate
Collapsing Bose-Einstein condensates are rich and complex quantum systems for
which quantitative explanation by simple models has proved elusive. We present
new experimental data on the collapse of high density Rb-85 condensates with
attractive interactions and find quantitative agreement with the predictions of
the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The collapse data and measurements of the decay
of atoms from our condensates allow us to put new limits on the value of the
Rb-85 three-body loss coefficient K_3 at small positive and negative scattering
lengths.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Cold atom gravimetry with a Bose-Einstein Condensate
We present a cold atom gravimeter operating with a sample of Bose-condensed
Rubidium-87 atoms. Using a Mach-Zehnder configuration with the two arms
separated by a two-photon Bragg transition, we observe interference fringes
with a visibility of 83% at T=3 ms. We exploit large momentum transfer (LMT)
beam splitting to increase the enclosed space-time area of the interferometer
using higher-order Bragg transitions and Bloch oscillations. We also compare
fringes from condensed and thermal sources, and observe a reduced visibility of
58% for the thermal source. We suspect the loss in visibility is caused partly
by wavefront aberrations, to which the thermal source is more susceptible due
to its larger transverse momentum spread. Finally, we discuss briefly the
potential advantages of using a coherent atomic source for LMT, and present a
simple mean-field model to demonstrate that with currently available
experimental parameters, interaction-induced dephasing will not limit the
sensitivity of inertial measurements using freely-falling, coherent atomic
sources.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Final version, published PR
Ramsey interferometry with an atom laser
We present results on a free-space atom interferometer operating on the first
order magnetically insensitive |F=1,mF=0> -> |F=2,mF=0> transition of
Bose-condensed 87Rb atoms. A pulsed atom laser is output-coupled from a
Bose-Einstein condensate and propagates through a sequence of two internal
state beam splitters, realized via coherent Raman transitions between the two
interfering states. We observe Ramsey fringes with a visibility close to 100%
and determine the current and the potentially achievable interferometric phase
sensitivity. This system is well suited to testing recent proposals for
generating and detecting squeezed atomic states.Comment: published version, 8 pages, 3 figure
Optically trapped atom interferometry using the clock transition of large Rb-87 Bose-Einstein condensates
We present a Ramsey-type atom interferometer operating with an optically
trapped sample of 10^6 Bose-condensed Rb-87 atoms. The optical trap allows us
to couple the |F =1, mF =0>\rightarrow |F =2, mF =0> clock states using a
single photon 6.8GHz microwave transition, while state selective readout is
achieved with absorption imaging. Interference fringes with contrast
approaching 100% are observed for short evolution times. We analyse the process
of absorption imaging and show that it is possible to observe atom number
variance directly, with a signal-to-noise ratio ten times better than the
atomic projection noise limit on 10^6 condensate atoms. We discuss the
technical and fundamental noise sources that limit our current system, and
outline the improvements that can be made. Our results indicate that, with
further experimental refinements, it will be possible to produce and measure
the output of a sub-shot-noise limited, large atom number BEC-based
interferometer.
In an addendum to the original paper, we attribute our inability to observe
quantum projection noise to the stability of our microwave oscillator and
background magnetic field. Numerical simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii
equations for our system show that dephasing due to spatial dynamics driven by
interparticle interactions account for much of the observed decay in fringe
visibility at long interrogation times. The simulations show good agreement
with the experimental data when additional technical decoherence is accounted
for, and suggest that the clock states are indeed immiscible. With smaller
samples of 5 \times 10^4 atoms, we observe a coherence time of {\tau} =
(1.0+0.5-0.3) s.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures Addendum: 11 pages, 6 figure
Optically guided linear Mach Zehnder atom interferometer
We demonstrate a horizontal, linearly guided Mach Zehnder atom interferometer
in an optical waveguide. Intended as a proof-of-principle experiment, the
interferometer utilises a Bose-Einstein condensate in the magnetically
insensitive |F=1,mF=0> state of Rubidium-87 as an acceleration sensitive test
mass. We achieve a modest sensitivity to acceleration of da = 7x10^-4 m/s^2.
Our fringe visibility is as high as 38% in this optically guided atom
interferometer. We observe a time-of-flight in the waveguide of over half a
second, demonstrating the utility of our optical guide for future sensors.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
A Bright Solitonic Matter-Wave Interferometer
We present the first realisation of a solitonic atom interferometer. A
Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms of rubidium-85 is loaded into a
horizontal optical waveguide. Through the use of a Feshbach resonance, the
-wave scattering length of the Rb atoms is tuned to a small negative
value. This attractive atomic interaction then balances the inherent
matter-wave dispersion, creating a bright solitonic matter wave. A Mach-Zehnder
interferometer is constructed by driving Bragg transitions with the use of an
optical lattice co-linear with the waveguide. Matter wave propagation and
interferometric fringe visibility are compared across a range of -wave
scattering values including repulsive, attractive and non-interacting values.
The solitonic matter wave is found to significantly increase fringe visibility
even compared with a non-interacting cloud.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
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