Confirmation of stimulated Hawking radiation, but not of black hole lasing

Stimulated Hawking radiation in an analogue black hole in a Bose-Einstein condensate was reported seven years ago, and it was claimed that the stimulation was of the black hole lasing variety. The study was based on observation of rapidly-growing negative-energy waves. We find that the Hawking particles are directly observable in the experimental plots, which confirms the stimulated Hawking radiation. We further verify this result with new measurements. Also, the observed Hawking particles provide a sensitive, background-free probe of the underlying mechanism of the stimulation. The experiment inspired the prediction of the Bogoliubov-Cherenkov-Landau (BCL) mechanism of stimulated Hawking radiation. By computing the Bogoliubov coefficient for Hawking radiation, we find that the stimulation was of the BCL type, rather than black-hole lasing. We further confirm the results with numerical simulations of both black hole lasing and BCL stimulation

Direct observation of number squeezing in an optical lattice

We present an in-situ study of an optical lattice with tunneling and single lattice site resolution. This system provides an important step for realizing a quantum computer. The real-space images show the fluctuations of the atom number in each site. The sub-Poissonian distribution results from the approach to the Mott insulator state, combined with the dynamics of density-dependent losses, which result from the high densities of optical lattice experiments. These losses are clear from the shape of the lattice profile. Furthermore, we find that the lattice is not in the ground state despite the momentum distribution which shows the reciprocal lattice. These effects may well be relevant for other optical lattice experiments, past and future. The lattice beams are derived from a microlens array, resulting in lattice beams which are perfectly stable relative to one another

Direct observation of the phonon energy in a Bose-Einstein condensate by tomographic imaging

The momentum and energy of phonons in a Bose-Einstein condensate are measured directly from a time-of-flight image by computerized tomography. We find that the same atoms that carry the momentum of the excitation also carry the excitation energy. The measured energy is in agreement with the Bogoliubov spectrum. Hydrodynamic simulations are performed which confirm our observation.Comment: Letter, 5 figure