Temporal Talbot effect in interference of matter waves from arrays of Bose-Einstein condensates and transition to Fraunhofer diffraction

Abstract

We consider interference patterns produced by coherent arrays of Bose-Einstein condensates during their one-dimensional expansion. Several characteristic pattern structures are distinguished depending on value of the evolution time. Transformation of Talbot ``collapse-revival'' behavior to Fraunhofer interference fringes is studied in detail.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures; misprints correcte