Tunneling Resonances and Coherence in a Gray Optical Lattice

Ivan Deutsch, Paul M. Alsing, Poul Jessen

Poul Jessen

Boon-Keng Kevin Teo, Jeffrey R. Guest, Georg A. Raithel

The center-of-mass quantization of atoms trapped in a gray optical lattice is observed to manifest itself in the steady-state properties of the atoms. Modulations in the lifetime and macroscopic magnetization as a function of an applied B field are attributed to quantum mechanical tunneling resonances and are shown to exist only under conditions which afford spatial coherence of the trapped atoms over several lattice wells and coherence times that exceed the tunneling period.

Natalya V. Morrow, S. K. Dutta, Georg A. Raithel

We study magnetic field-induced modifications of the well-to-well tunneling behavior of atoms in a one-dimensional grey optical lattice. Measurements of the tunneling frequency as a function of the applied magnetic field reveal several tunneling resonances. We further show that the tunneling signal can be suppressed by randomly varying the symmetry of the potential wells. The tunneling is suppressed most effectively if the autocorrelation time of the lattice-well variation is on the order of the tunneling time. Experimental and theoretical results are in good agreement.

Dirk-Soeren Luehmann, Ole Jürgensen, K. Sengstock

Subrata Dutta, Boon-Keng Kevin Teo, Georg A. Raithel