428 research outputs found
Approaching the Heisenberg limit in an atom laser
We present experimental and theoretical results showing the improved beam quality and reduced divergence
of an atom laser produced by an optical Raman transition, compared to one produced by an rf transition. We
show that Raman outcoupling can eliminate the diverging lens effect that the condensate has on the outcoupled
atoms. This substantially improves the beam quality of the atom laser, and the improvement may be greater
than a factor of 10 for experiments with tight trapping potentials. We show that Raman outcoupling can
produce atom lasers whose quality is only limited by the wave function shape of the condensate that produces
them, typically a factor of 1.3 above the Heisenberg limit
Pulsed pumping of a Bose-Einstein condensate
In this work, we examine a system for coherent transfer of atoms into a
Bose-Einstein condensate. We utilize two spatially separate Bose-Einstein
condensates in different hyperfine ground states held in the same dc magnetic
trap. By means of a pulsed transfer of atoms, we are able to show a clear
resonance in the timing of the transfer, both in temperature and number, from
which we draw conclusions about the underlying physical process. The results
are discussed in the context of the recently demonstrated pumped atom laser.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, published in Physical Review
A multibeam atom laser: coherent atom beam splitting from a single far detuned laser
We report the experimental realisation of a multibeam atom laser. A single
continuous atom laser is outcoupled from a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) via
an optical Raman transition. The atom laser is subsequently split into up to
five atomic beams with slightly different momenta, resulting in multiple,
nearly co-propagating, coherent beams which could be of use in interferometric
experiments. The splitting process itself is a novel realization of Bragg
diffraction, driven by each of the optical Raman laser beams independently.
This presents a significantly simpler implementation of an atomic beam
splitter, one of the main elements of coherent atom optics
Increased detection rates of intermediate and high-grade prostate cancer in African-American men after 2012 USPSTF recommendation against PSA screening
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
A pumped atom laser
We present the experimental realization of a pumped atom laser. We
demonstrate the pumping through measurements of the source and laser-mode atom
numbers, making a rate equation study of the pumping process.Comment: Version 2 contains 18 pages and 4 figures. We have significantly
rewritten the introduction, as well as including a discussion of Rayleigh and
Raman superradiant scattering and how these relate to continuous pumping of
an atom laser. Five new references were adde
Collapse and three-body loss in a 85 Rb 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 experimental data on the collapse of high-density 85Rb 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 85Rb three-body loss coefficient K3 at small positive and negative scattering lengths
Precision atomic gravimeter based on Bragg diffraction
We present a precision gravimeter based on coherent Bragg diffraction of
freely falling cold atoms. Traditionally, atomic gravimeters have used
stimulated Raman transitions to separate clouds in momentum space by driving
transitions between two internal atomic states. Bragg interferometers utilize
only a single internal state, and can therefore be less susceptible to
environmental perturbations. Here we show that atoms extracted from a
magneto-optical trap using an accelerating optical lattice are a suitable
source for a Bragg atom interferometer, allowing efficient beamsplitting and
subsequent separation of momentum states for detection. Despite the inherently
multi-state nature of atom diffraction, we are able to build a Mach-Zehnder
interferometer using Bragg scattering which achieves a sensitivity to the
gravitational acceleration of with an
integration time of 1000s. The device can also be converted to a gravity
gradiometer by a simple modification of the light pulse sequence.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figure
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