4,468 research outputs found
Stability of continuously pumped atom lasers
A multimode model of a continuously pumped atom laser is shown to be unstable
below a critical value of the scattering length. Above the critical scattering
length, the atom laser reaches a steady state, the stability of which increases
with pumping. Below this limit the laser does not reach a steady state. This
instability results from the competition between gain and loss for the excited
states of the lasing mode. It will determine a fundamental limit for the
linewidth of an atom laser beam.Comment: 4 page
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
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
A detector for continuous measurement of ultra-cold atoms in real time
We present the first detector capable of recording high-bandwidth real time
atom number density measurements of a Bose Einstein condensate. Based on a
two-color Mach-Zehnder interferometer, our detector has a response time that is
six orders of magnitude faster than current detectors based on CCD cameras
while still operating at the shot-noise limit. With this minimally destructive
system it may be possible to implement feedback to stabilize a Bose-Einstein
condensate or an atom laser.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figures, submitted to optics letter
Gradient echo memory in an ultra-high optical depth cold atomic ensemble
Quantum memories are an integral component of quantum repeaters - devices
that will allow the extension of quantum key distribution to communication
ranges beyond that permissible by passive transmission. A quantum memory for
this application needs to be highly efficient and have coherence times
approaching a millisecond. Here we report on work towards this goal, with the
development of a Rb magneto-optical trap with a peak optical depth of
1000 for the D2 transition using spatial and temporal
dark spots. With this purpose-built cold atomic ensemble to implement the
gradient echo memory (GEM) scheme. Our data shows a memory efficiency of % and coherence times up to 195 s, which is a factor of four greater
than previous GEM experiments implemented in warm vapour cells.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figure
Quantum tunneling dynamics of an interacting Bose-Einstein condensate through a Gaussian barrier
The transmission of an interacting Bose-Einstein condensate incident on a
repulsive Gaussian barrier is investigated through numerical simulation. The
dynamics associated with interatomic interactions are studied across a broad
parameter range not previously explored. Effective 1D Gross-Pitaevskii equation
(GPE) simulations are compared to classical Boltzmann-Vlasov equation (BVE)
simulations in order to isolate purely coherent matterwave effects. Quantum
tunneling is then defined as the portion of the GPE transmission not described
by the classical BVE. An exponential dependence of transmission on barrier
height is observed in the purely classical simulation, suggesting that
observing such exponential dependence is not a sufficient condition for quantum
tunneling. Furthermore, the transmission is found to be predominately described
by classical effects, although interatomic interactions are shown to modify the
magnitude of the quantum tunneling. Interactions are also seen to affect the
amount of classical transmission, producing transmission in regions where the
non-interacting equivalent has none. This theoretical investigation clarifies
the contribution quantum tunneling makes to overall transmission in
many-particle interacting systems, potentially informing future tunneling
experiments with ultracold atoms.Comment: Close to the published versio
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