BEC on a microchip: integrated coherent manipulation of matter waves

Jakob Reichel, W. Hänsel, Peter Hommelhoff +4 more

P. G. Kevrekidis, D. J. Frantzeskakis, R. Carretero-González

Allan Griffin

Philipp Wessels, Bernhard Ruff, Tobias Kroker +3 more

C Ryu, M. G. Boshier

An integrated coherent matter wave circuit is a single device, analogous to an integrated optical circuit, in which coherent de Broglie waves are created and then launched into waveguides where they can be switched, divided, recombined, and detected as they propagate. Applications of such circuits include guided atom interferometers, atomtronic circuits, and precisely controlled delivery of atoms. Here we report experiments demonstrating integrated circuits for guided coherent matter waves. The circuit elements are created with the painted potential technique, a form of time-averaged optical dipole potential in which a rapidly moving, tightly focused laser beam exerts forces on atoms through their electric polarizability. The source of coherent matter waves is a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC). We launch BECs into painted waveguides that guide them around bends and form switches, phase coherent beamsplitters, and closed circuits. These are the basic elements that are needed to engineer arbitrarily complex matter wave circuitry.

P. Krüger, Sebastian Hofferberth, Thorsten Schumm +6 more

Coherent manipulation of matter waves in microscopic trapping potentials facilitates both fundamental and technological applications. Here we focus on experiments with a microscopic integrated interferometer that demonstrate coherent operation on an atom chip.