6,808 research outputs found
Breakdown of integrability in a quasi-one-dimensional ultracold bosonic gas
We demonstrate that virtual excitations of higher radial modes in an atomic
Bose gas in a tightly confining waveguide result in effective three-body
collisions that violate integrability in this quasi-one-dimensional quantum
system and give rise to thermalization. The estimated thermalization rates are
consistent with recent experimental results in quasi-1D dynamics of ultracold
atoms.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, revtex
Ultracold atoms in radio-frequency-dressed potentials beyond the rotating wave approximation
We study dressed Bose-Einstein condensates in an atom chip radio-frequency
trap. We show that in this system sufficiently strong dressing can be achieved
to cause the widely used rotating wave approximation (RWA) to break down. We
present a full calculation of the atom - field coupling which shows that the
non-RWA contributions quantitatively alter the shape of the emerging dressed
adiabatic potentials. The non-RWA contributions furthermore lead to additional
allowed transitions between dressed levels. We use RF spectroscopy of
Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in the dressed state potentials to directly
observe the transition from the RWA to the beyond-RWA regime.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Multi-layer atom chips for versatile atom micro manipulation
We employ a combination of optical UV- and electron-beam-lithography to
create an atom chip combining sub-micron wire structures with larger
conventional wires on a single substrate. The new multi-layer fabrication
enables crossed wire configurations, greatly enhancing the flexibility in
designing potentials for ultra cold quantum gases and Bose-Einstein
condensates. Large current densities of >6 x 10^7 A/cm^2 and high voltages of
up to 65 V across 0.3 micron gaps are supported by even the smallest wire
structures. We experimentally demonstrate the flexibility of the next
generation atom chip by producing Bose-Einstein condensates in magnetic traps
created by a combination of wires involving all different fabrication methods
and structure sizes.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Dual-species quantum degeneracy of potassium-40 and rubidium-87 on an atom chip
In this article we review our recent experiments with a 40K-87Rb mixture. We
demonstrate rapid sympathetic cooling of a 40K-87Rb mixture to dual quantum
degeneracy on an atom chip. We also provide details on efficient BEC
production, species-selective magnetic confinement, and progress toward
integration of an optical lattice with an atom chip. The efficiency of our
evaporation allows us to reach dual degeneracy after just 6 s of evaporation -
more rapidly than in conventional magnetic traps. When optimizing evaporative
cooling for efficient evaporation of 87Rb alone we achieve BEC after just 4 s
of evaporation and an 8 s total cycle time.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. To be published in the Proceedings of the 20th
International Conference on Atomic Physics, 2006 (Innsbruck, Austria
Adiabatic radio frequency potentials for the coherent manipulation of matter waves
Adiabatic dressed state potentials are created when magnetic sub-states of
trapped atoms are coupled by a radio frequency field. We discuss their
theoretical foundations and point out fundamental advantages over potentials
purely based on static fields. The enhanced flexibility enables one to
implement numerous novel configurations, including double wells, Mach-Zehnder
and Sagnac interferometers which even allows for internal state-dependent atom
manipulation. These can be realized using simple and highly integrated wire
geometries on atom chips.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure
An optical lattice on an atom chip
Optical dipole traps and atom chips are two very powerful tools for the
quantum manipulation of neutral atoms. We demonstrate that both methods can be
combined by creating an optical lattice potential on an atom chip. A
red-detuned laser beam is retro-reflected using the atom chip surface as a
high-quality mirror, generating a vertical array of purely optical oblate
traps. We load thermal atoms from the chip into the lattice and observe cooling
into the two-dimensional regime where the thermal energy is smaller than a
quantum of transverse excitation. Using a chip-generated Bose-Einstein
condensate, we demonstrate coherent Bloch oscillations in the lattice.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure
Two-point density correlations of quasicondensates in free expansion
We measure the two-point density correlation function of freely expanding
quasicondensates in the weakly interacting quasi-one-dimensional (1D) regime.
While initially suppressed in the trap, density fluctuations emerge gradually
during expansion as a result of initial phase fluctuations present in the
trapped quasicondensate. Asymptotically, they are governed by the thermal
coherence length of the system. Our measurements take place in an intermediate
regime where density correlations are related to near-field diffraction effects
and anomalous correlations play an important role. Comparison with a recent
theoretical approach described by Imambekov et al. yields good agreement with
our experimental results and shows that density correlations can be used for
thermometry of quasicondensates.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, minor change
Calibration of a single atom detector for atomic micro chips
We experimentally investigate a scheme for detecting single atoms
magnetically trapped on an atom chip. The detector is based on the
photoionization of atoms and the subsequent detection of the generated ions. We
describe the characterization of the ion detector with emphasis on its
calibration via the correlation of ions with simultaneously generated
electrons. A detection efficiency of 47.8% (+-2.6%) is measured, which is
useful for single atom detection, and close to the limit allowing atom counting
with sub-Poissonian uncertainty
Disorder Potentials near Lithographically Fabricated Atom Chips
We show that previously observed large disorder potentials in magnetic
microtraps for neutral atoms are reduced by about two orders of magnitude when
using atom chips with lithographically fabricated high quality gold layers.
Using one dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates, we probe the remaining
magnetic field variations at surface distances down to a few microns.
Measurements on a 100 um wide wire imply that residual variations of the
current flow result from local properties of the wire.Comment: submitted on September 24th, 200
Prospects for measuring the 229Th isomer energy using a metallic magnetic microcalorimeter
The Thorium-229 isotope features a nuclear isomer state with an extremely low
energy. The currently most accepted energy value, 7.8 +- 0.5 eV, was obtained
from an indirect measurement using a NASA x-ray microcalorimeter with an
instrumental resolution 26 eV. We study, how state-of-the-art magnetic metallic
microcalorimeters with an energy resolution down to a few eV can be used to
measure the isomer energy. In particular, resolving the 29.18 keV doublet in
the \gamma-spectrum following the \alpha-decay of Uranium-233, corresponding to
the decay into the ground and isomer state, allows to measure the isomer
transition energy without additional theoretical input parameters, and increase
the energy accuracy. We study the possibility of resolving the 29.18 keV line
as a doublet and the dependence of the attainable precision of the energy
measurement on the signal and background count rates and the instrumental
resolution.Comment: 32 pages, 8 figures, eq. (3) correcte
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