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Physics World

Flipping the switch on an atom laser?

Keith R. Burnett

Published Oct 1, 1996• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

A holy grail for physicists working in atom optics has long been an atom laser – a coherent beam in which all the atoms are in the same quantum state and are all travelling in the same direction with the same speed. Just as lasers have made optical techniques the preferred route for an extraordinary range of science and technology, an atom laser would give a powerful boost to atom optics and its applications, including atom interferometry and the laser-guided deposition of atoms. Although there is an active debate about what will constitute the observation of an atom laser, Wolfgang Ketterle and co-workers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US have demonstrated what some physicists agree is a pulsed atom laser.

DOI
10.1088/2058-7058/9/10/17

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A holy grail for physicists working in atom optics has long been an atom laser – a coherent beam in which all the atoms are in the same quantum state and are all travelling in the same direction with the same speed. Just as lasers have made optical techniques the preferred route for an extraordinary range of science and technology, an atom laser would give a powerful boost to atom optics and its applications, including atom interferometry and the laser-guided deposition of atoms. Although there is an active debate about what will constitute the observation of an atom laser, Wolfgang Ketterle and co-workers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US have demonstrated what some physicists agree is a pulsed atom laser.
The word laser has taken on a new meaning: a beam of atoms marching in quantum lockstep, like the photons of a light laser. Two years ago, physicists achieved the crucial starting point for an atom laser, which could aid everything from atomic clocks to chipmaking, when they created an exotic brew of atoms all merged in a single quantum state. Now, a group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reports in this issue ( p. 637 ) that they have shaped this “Bose-Einstein condensate” into pulses, each one a single, coherent “matter wave.”
Our ability to manipulate the coherence properties of light has been at the heart of many of the most important scientific and technological innovations of this century. There can hardly be a home in this country that does not possess a laser in the form of a compact disc player or a CDROM. When we talk on the phone, or send messages on the Internet, there is a high probability that our message will be encoded by a laser into pulses of light to be passed through optical fibres. In the last few years physicists have been discovering that it is possible to control the coherence properties of atoms, and are now developing tools analogous to those which have been developed to take advantage of the coherence properties of light. In the next decade we can look forward to seeing the application of lasers, fibres, mirrors and waveguides for atoms. Already we have been able to construct interferometry experiments using beams of atoms and these have proved to be extremely sensitive measurement devices, allowing us to test physical theories and measure fundamental constants to a level of precision not previously possible. Will these developing technologies ever be as ubiquitous as their optical forebears? In this paper we discuss the anticipated uses of this technology for both fundamental science and industrial applications. Starting from an explanation of the meaning of coherence and a comparison of the properties of photons and atoms, we describe the development of the science of atom optics. The tortuous route towards the great achievement of producing a Bose–Einstein condensate is described, and we explain why this is the most important step towards a laser–like source of atoms. Numerous other optical elements for atoms have been built or are on the drawing board, and we describe how these may be used to manipulate atoms with a precision that has never before been achieved, and look ahead to what we can learn about physics using these tools and at how they can be put to practical use.
Atom interferometry, in which atomic waves are coherently split and later recombined, has been called the Swiss Army knife of atomic physics because of its numerous applications [1]. Atom interferometers can be used to study gravity, observe quantum effects, and measure fundamental constants. However, the spitting of atomic beams has always been a challenging task. Several beam splitters for atoms have been developed over the years, many of which rely on complex, high-powered lasers whose photons collide with atoms to steer them along separate beam paths. Paul Hamilton and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley, have built a more versatile beam splitter by using, for the first time, an optical cavity [2]. Laser pulses bounce back and forth inside the cavity, increasing the effective power in standing waves of light and reducing imperfections in the wave fronts. The light concentration within the cavity allows the use of common low-powered lasers for the initial pulses. The new design may lead to a universal atom interferometer with optical gratings that works with a wide range of atomic species.
Interference with atomic and molecular matter waves is a rich branch of atomic physics and quantum optics. It started with atom diffraction from crystal surfaces and the separated oscillatory fields technique used in atomic clocks. Atom interferometry is now reaching maturity as a powerful art with many applications in modern science. In this review the basic tools for coherent atom optics are described including diffraction by nanostructures and laser light, three-grating interferometers, and double wells on atom chips. Scientific advances in a broad range of fields that have resulted from the application of atom interferometers are reviewed. These are grouped in three categories: (i) fundamental quantum science, (ii) precision metrology, and (iii) atomic and molecular physics. Although some experiments with Bose-Einstein condensates are included, the focus of the review is on linear matter wave optics, i.e., phenomena where each single atom interferes with itself.