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Acceptance test report for 241-SY-101 DACS software upgrade to test strategy, version 3.04
This Acceptance Test Report (ATR) will summarize the results of performing ATP-183 which tested the modifications to the DACS Test Strategy software
An optical lattice on an atom chip
Optical dipole traps and atom chips are two very powerful tools for the
quantum manipulation of neutral atoms. We demonstrate that both methods can be
combined by creating an optical lattice potential on an atom chip. A
red-detuned laser beam is retro-reflected using the atom chip surface as a
high-quality mirror, generating a vertical array of purely optical oblate
traps. We load thermal atoms from the chip into the lattice and observe cooling
into the two-dimensional regime where the thermal energy is smaller than a
quantum of transverse excitation. Using a chip-generated Bose-Einstein
condensate, we demonstrate coherent Bloch oscillations in the lattice.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure
Collapsing dynamics of attractive Bose-Einstein condensates
The self-similar collapse of 3D and quasi-2D atom condensates with negative
scattering length is examined. 3D condensates are shown to blow up following
the scenario of {\it weak collapse}: The inner core of the condensate diverges
with an almost zero particle number, while its tail distribution spreads out to
large distances with a constant density profile. For this case, the 3-body
recombination arrests the collapse, but it weakly dissipates the atoms. The
confining trap then reforms the condensate at later times. In contrast, 2D
condensates undergo a {\it strong collapse}: The atoms stay mainly located at
center and recombination sequentially absorbs a significant amount of
particles.Comment: 4 pages, submitted for publicatio
Multi Mode Interferometer for Guided Matter Waves
We describe the fundamental features of an interferometer for guided matter
waves based on Y-beam splitters and show that, in a quasi two-dimensional
regime, such a device exhibits high contrast fringes even in a multi mode
regime and fed from a thermal source.Comment: Final version (accepted to PRL
Free expansion of two-dimensional condensates with a vortex
We study the free expansion of a pancake-shaped Bose-condensed gas, which is
initially trapped under harmonic confinement and containing a vortex at its
centre. In the case of a radial expansion holding fixed the axial confinement
we consider various models for the interactions, depending on the thickness of
the condensate relative to the value of the scattering length. We are thus able
to evaluate different scattering regimes ranging from quasi-three-dimensional
(Q3D) to strictly two-dimensional (2D). We find that as the system goes from
Q3D to 2D the expansion rate of the condensate increases whereas that of the
vortex core decreases. In the Q3D scattering regime we also examine a fully
free expansion in 3D and find oscillatory behaviour for the vortex core radius:
an initial fast expansion of the vortex core is followed by a slowing down.
Such a nonuniform expansion rate of the vortex core may be taken into account
in designing new experiments.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
Frequencies and Damping rates of a 2D Deformed Trapped Bose gas above the Critical Temperature
We derive the equation of motion for the velocity fluctuations of a 2D
deformed trapped Bose gas above the critical temperature in the hydrodynamical
regime. From this equation, we calculate the eigenfrequencies for a few
low-lying excitation modes. Using the method of averages, we derive a
dispersion relation in a deformed trap that interpolates between the
collisionless and hydrodynamic regimes. We make use of this dispersion relation
to calculate the frequencies and the damping rates for monopole and quadrupole
mode in both the regimes. We also discuss the time evolution of the wave packet
width of a Bose gas in a time dependent as well as time independent trap.Comment: 13 pages, latex fil
Observation of radiation pressure exerted by evanescent waves
We report a direct observation of radiation pressure, exerted on cold
rubidium atoms while bouncing on an evanescent-wave atom mirror. We analyze the
radiation pressure by imaging the motion of the atoms after the bounce. The
number of absorbed photons is measured for laser detunings ranging from {190
MHz} to {1.4 GHz} and for angles from {0.9 mrad} to {24 mrad} above the
critical angle of total internal reflection. Depending on these settings, we
find velocity changes parallel with the mirror surface, ranging from 1 to {18
cm/s}. This corresponds to 2 to 31 photon recoils per atom. These results are
independent of the evanescent-wave optical power.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Cold atom gas at very high densities in an optical surface microtrap
An optical microtrap is realized on a dielectric surface by crossing a
tightly focused laser beam with an horizontal evanescent-wave atom mirror. The
nondissipative trap is loaded with cesium atoms through elastic
collisions from a cold reservoir provided by a large-volume optical surface
trap. With an observed 300-fold local increase of the atomic number density
approaching , unprecedented conditions of cold atoms
close to a surface are realized
Creating a low-dimensional quantum gas using dark states in an inelastic evanescent-wave mirror
We discuss an experimental scheme to create a low-dimensional gas of
ultracold atoms, based on inelastic bouncing on an evanescent-wave mirror.
Close to the turning point of the mirror, the atoms are transferred into an
optical dipole trap. This scheme can compress the phase-space density and can
ultimately yield an optically-driven atom laser. An important issue is the
suppression of photon scattering due to ``cross-talk'' between the mirror
potential and the trapping potential. We propose that for alkali atoms the
photon scattering rate can be suppressed by several orders of magnitude if the
atoms are decoupled from the evanescent-wave light. We discuss how such dark
states can be achieved by making use of circularly-polarized evanescent waves.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Bose-Einstein condensation in quasi2D trapped gases
We discuss BEC in (quasi)2D trapped gases and find that well below the
transition temperature the equilibrium state is a true condensate,
whereas at intermediate temperatures one has a quasicondensate
(condensate with fluctuating phase). The mean-field interaction in a quasi2D
gas is sensitive to the frequency of the (tight) confinement in the
"frozen" direction, and one can switch the sign of the interaction by changing
. Variation of can also reduce the rates of inelastic
processes, which opens prospects for tunable BEC in trapped quasi2D gases.Comment: 4 revtex pages, 1 figure, text is revised, figure improve
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