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Physical Review Letters

Quantum Delta-Kicked Rotor: Experimental Observation of Decoherence

H. Ammann, R. Gray, I. Shvarchuck, Nelson L Christensen

Published May 11, 1998• 280 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report on the experimental observation of environment induced decoherence in the quantum delta-kicked rotor. Ultracold cesium atoms are subjected to a pulsed standing wave of near resonant light. Spontaneous scattering of photons destroys dynamical localization thereby giving rise to a quantum diffusion, which approaches the classical diffusion with an increasing degree of decoherence. This tendency is enhanced by a stronger stochasticity in the underlying classical system. A comparison with theoretical predictions is presented.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.80.4111

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We report on the experimental observation of environment induced decoherence in the quantum delta-kicked rotor. Ultracold cesium atoms are subjected to a pulsed standing wave of near resonant light. Spontaneous scattering of photons destroys dynamical localization thereby giving rise to a quantum diffusion, which approaches the classical diffusion with an increasing degree of decoherence. This tendency is enhanced by a stronger stochasticity in the underlying classical system. A comparison with theoretical predictions is presented.
We present experimental observations of diffusion resonances for the quantum kicked rotor with weak decoherence. Cold caesium atoms are subject to a pulsed standing wave of near-resonant light, with spontaneous emission providing environmental coupling. The mean energy as a function of the pulse period is determined during the late-time diffusion regime for a constant probability of spontaneous emission per unit time. Structure in the late-time energy is seen to increase with physical kicking strength. The observed structure is related to Shepelyansky's predictions of the initial quantum diffusion rates.
We present experimental observations of diffusion resonances for the quantum kicked rotor with weak decoherence. Cold caesium atoms are subject to a pulsed standing wave of near-resonant light, with spontaneous emission providing environmental coupling. The mean energy as a function of the pulse period is determined during the late-time diffusion period for a constant probability of spontaneous emission. Structure in the late-time energy is seen to increase with physical kicking strength. The observed structure is related to Shepelyansky's predictions for the initial quantum diffusion rates.
We present experimental observations of diffusion resonances for the quantum kicked rotor with weak decoherence. Cold caesium atoms are subject to a pulsed standing wave of near-resonant light, with spontaneous emission providing environmental coupling. The mean energy as a function of the pulse period is determined during the late-time diffusion period for a constant probability of spontaneous emission. Structure in the late-time energy is seen to increase with physical kicking strength. The observed structure is related to Shepelyansky's predictions of the initial quantum diffusion rates. Additional results of diffusion rates as a function of the effective Planck's constant are given, showing non-trivial behaviour in the quantum-to-classical transition regime.
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