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arXiv:1012.2971 · New Journal of Physics

Quasi-continuous horizontally guided atom laser: coupling spectrum and flux limits

Alain Bernard, William Guerin, Juliette Billy, Fred Jendrzejewski, Patrick Cheinet, Alain Aspect, Vincent Josse, Philippe Bouyer

Published Jun 28, 2011• 12 citations
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Abstract

We study in detail the flux properties of a radiofrequency (rf) outcoupled horizontally guided atom laser by following the scheme demonstrated by Guerin W et al (2006 Phys. Rev. Lett. 97 200402). Both the outcoupling spectrum (flux of the atom laser versus rf frequency of the outcoupler) and the flux limitations imposed on operating in the quasi-continuous regime are investigated. These aspects are studied using a quasi-one-dimensional model, whose predictions are shown to be in fair agreement with the experimental observations. This work allows us to identify the operating range of the guided atom laser and to confirm its promises with regard to studying quantum transport phenomena.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/13/6/065015

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We analyze the outcoupling of a matter wave into a guide by a time-dependent spilling of the atoms from an initially trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. This process yields intrinsically a breakdown of the adiabatic condition that triggers the outcoupling of the wave function. Our analysis of the time-dependent engineering and manipulation of condensates in momentum space in this context enables us to work out the limits due to interactions in the mode quality of a guided-atom laser. This study is consistent with recent experimental observations of low transverse excitations of guided-atom lasers and suggests (i) an optimal strategy to realize such quasimonomode guided-atom lasers with, in addition, the lowest possible longitudinal velocity dispersion or alternatively (ii) a strategy for engineering the atomic flux of the atom laser.
We report the first realization of a guided quasicontinuous atom laser by rf outcoupling a Bose-Einstein condensate from a hybrid optomagnetic trap into a horizontal atomic waveguide. This configuration allows us to cancel the acceleration due to gravity and keep the de Broglie wavelength constant at 0.5 microm during 0.1 s of propagation. We also show that our configuration, equivalent to pigtailing an optical fiber to a (photon) semiconductor laser, ensures an intrinsically good transverse mode matching.
We study the properties of an atom laser beam derived from a Bose-Einstein condensate using three different outcouplers, one based on multistate radio-frequency transitions and two others based on Raman transitions capable of imparting momentum to the beam. We first summarize the differences that arise in such systems, and how they may impact on the use of an atom laser in interferometry. Experimentally, we examine the formation of a bound state in all three outcouplers, a phenomenon which limits the atom laser flux, and find that a two-state Raman outcoupler is the preferred option for high-flux, low-divergence atom laser beams.
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We present experimental results demonstrating that the flux of a continuous atom laser beam cannot be arbitrarily increased by increasing the strength of output coupling. We find that the continuous atom laser has large density fluctuations when the Rabi frequency becomes greater than the radial trapping frequency, due to the output coupling populating all accessible Zeeman states. In addition, we find that a state-changing output coupler for a continuous atom laser switches off as the output-coupling strength, parametrized in general by the Rabi frequency, is increased above a critical value. The numerical solution of a one-dimensional five-state Gross-Pitaevskii model for the atom laser is in good qualitative agreement with the experiment.