8 research outputs found
A slow gravity compensated Atom Laser
We report on a slow guided atom laser beam outcoupled from a Bose-Einstein
condensate of 87Rb atoms in a hybrid trap. The acceleration of the atom laser
beam can be controlled by compensating the gravitational acceleration and we
reach residual accelerations as low as 0.0027 g. The outcoupling mechanism
allows for the production of a constant flux of 4.5x10^6 atoms per second and
due to transverse guiding we obtain an upper limit for the mean beam width of
4.6 \mu\m. The transverse velocity spread is only 0.2 mm/s and thus an upper
limit for the beam quality parameter is M^2=2.5. We demonstrate the potential
of the long interrogation times available with this atom laser beam by
measuring the trap frequency in a single measurement. The small beam width
together with the long evolution and interrogation time makes this atom laser
beam a promising tool for continuous interferometric measurements.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, to be published in Applied Physics
Atom lasers: production, properties and prospects for precision inertial measurement
We review experimental progress on atom lasers out-coupled from Bose-Einstein
condensates, and consider the properties of such beams in the context of
precision inertial sensing. The atom laser is the matter-wave analog of the
optical laser. Both devices rely on Bose-enhanced scattering to produce a
macroscopically populated trapped mode that is output-coupled to produce an
intense beam. In both cases, the beams often display highly desirable
properties such as low divergence, high spectral flux and a simple spatial mode
that make them useful in practical applications, as well as the potential to
perform measurements at or below the quantum projection noise limit. Both
devices display similar second-order correlations that differ from thermal
sources. Because of these properties, atom lasers are a promising source for
application to precision inertial measurements.Comment: This is a review paper. It contains 40 pages, including references
and figure