Physical Review A

Self-similar scaling in the coherent dynamics of ultracold atoms

M. Artoni, G. La Rocca, G. Ferrari

Published Aug 27, 2009• 4 citations

Abstract

Well-resolved and long-lived atomic Bloch oscillations provide straightforward access to intriguing yet fascinating self-similar patterns. These could be observed in the quasienergy spectra of ultracold atomic wave packets subject to gravity in a driven optical lattice potential. As for the Hofstadter butterflylike energy spectra of crystal electrons in a uniform magnetic field, these atomic quasienergy spectra are shown to originate from commensurability between the Bloch oscillations period and the lattice driving period.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.80.021604

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