Anisotropic 2D diffusive expansion of ultra-cold atoms in a disordered potential

We study the horizontal expansion of vertically confined ultra-cold atoms in the presence of disorder. Vertical confinement allows us to realize a situation with a few coupled harmonic oscillator quantum states. The disordered potential is created by an optical speckle at an angle of 30{\deg} with respect to the horizontal plane, resulting in an effective anisotropy of the correlation lengths of a factor of 2 in that plane. We observe diffusion leading to non-Gaussian density profiles. Diffusion coefficients, extracted from the experimental results, show anisotropy and strong energy dependence, in agreement with numerical calculations

Connecting Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless and BEC Phase Transitions by Tuning Interactions in a Trapped Gas.

We study the critical point for the emergence of coherence in a harmonically trapped two-dimensional Bose gas with tunable interactions. Over a wide range of interaction strengths we find excellent agreement with the classical-field predictions for the critical point of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) superfluid transition. This allows us to quantitatively show, without any free parameters, that the interaction-driven BKT transition smoothly converges onto the purely quantum-statistical Bose-Einstein condensation transition in the limit of vanishing interactions.This work was supported by AFOSR, ARO, DARPA OLE, and EPSRC [Grant No. EP/K003615/1]. N. N. acknowledges support from Trinity College, Cambridge, R. P. S. from the Royal Society, and K. G. H. V. from DAAD.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from APS via http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.25530

The theory of quantum levitators

We develop a unified theory for clocks and gravimeters using the interferences of multiple atomic waves put in levitation by traveling light pulses. Inspired by optical methods, we exhibit a propagation invariant, which enables to derive analytically the wave function of the sample scattering on the light pulse sequence. A complete characterization of the device sensitivity with respect to frequency or to acceleration measurements is obtained. These results agree with previous numerical simulations and confirm the conjecture of sensitivity improvement through multiple atomic wave interferences. A realistic experimental implementation for such clock architecture is discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 6 Figures. Minor typos corrected. Final versio

Conduction of Ultracold Fermions Through a Mesoscopic Channel

In a mesoscopic conductor electric resistance is detected even if the device is defect-free. We engineer and study a cold-atom analog of a mesoscopic conductor. It consists of a narrow channel connecting two macroscopic reservoirs of fermions that can be switched from ballistic to diffusive. We induce a current through the channel and find ohmic conduction, even for a ballistic channel. An analysis of in-situ density distributions shows that in the ballistic case the chemical potential drop occurs at the entrance and exit of the channel, revealing the presence of contact resistance. In contrast, a diffusive channel with disorder displays a chemical potential drop spread over the whole channel. Our approach opens the way towards quantum simulation of mesoscopic devices with quantum gases

Light-shift tomography in an optical-dipole trap for neutral atoms

We report on light-shift tomography of a cloud of 87 Rb atoms in a far-detuned optical-dipole trap at 1565 nm. Our method is based on standard absorption imaging, but takes advantage of the strong light-shift of the excited state of the imaging transition, which is due to a quasi-resonance of the trapping laser with a higher excited level. We use this method to (i) map the equipotentials of a crossed optical-dipole trap, and (ii) study the thermalisation of an atomic cloud by following the evolution of the potential-energy of atoms during the free-evaporation process

All-optical runaway evaporation to Bose-Einstein condensation

We demonstrate runaway evaporative cooling directly with a tightly confining optical dipole trap and achieve fast production of condensates of 1.5x10^5 87Rb atoms. Our scheme is characterized by an independent control of the optical trap confinement and depth, permitting forced evaporative cooling without reducing the trap stiffness. Although our configuration is particularly well suited to the case of 87Rb atoms in a 1565nm optical trap, where an efficient initial loading is possible, our scheme is general and should allow all-optical evaporative cooling at constant stiffness for most species

Laser microfluidics: fluid actuation by light

The development of microfluidic devices is still hindered by the lack of robust fundamental building blocks that constitute any fluidic system. An attractive approach is optical actuation because light field interaction is contactless and dynamically reconfigurable, and solutions have been anticipated through the use of optical forces to manipulate microparticles in flows. Following the concept of an 'optical chip' advanced from the optical actuation of suspensions, we propose in this survey new routes to extend this concept to microfluidic two-phase flows. First, we investigate the destabilization of fluid interfaces by the optical radiation pressure and the formation of liquid jets. We analyze the droplet shedding from the jet tip and the continuous transport in laser-sustained liquid channels. In the second part, we investigate a dissipative light-flow interaction mechanism consisting in heating locally two immiscible fluids to produce thermocapillary stresses along their interface. This opto-capillary coupling is implemented in adequate microchannel geometries to manipulate two-phase flows and propose a contactless optical toolbox including valves, droplet sorters and switches, droplet dividers or droplet mergers. Finally, we discuss radiation pressure and opto-capillary effects in the context of the 'optical chip' where flows, channels and operating functions would all be performed optically on the same device

A Self-Consistent Microscopic Theory of Surface Superconductivity

The electronic structure of the superconducting surface sheath in a type-II superconductor in magnetic fields $H_{c2}<H<H_{c3}$ is calculated self-consistently using the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. We find that the pair potential $\Delta(x)$ exhibits pronounced Friedel oscillations near the surface, in marked contrast with the results of Ginzburg-Landau theory. The role of magnetic edge states is emphasized. The local density of states near the surface shows a significant depletion near the Fermi energy due to the development of local superconducting order. We suggest that this structure could be unveiled by scanning-tunneling microscopy studies performed near the edge of a superconducting sample.Comment: 12 pages, Revtex 3.0, 3 postscript figures appende