The guided atom laser : a new tool for quantum transport phenomena

Vincent Josse, Alain Aspect, Alain Bernard +5 more

Simon A. Haine

Alain Bernard, William Guerin, Juliette Billy +5 more

We study in detail the flux properties of a radiofrequency (rf) outcoupled horizontally guided atom laser by following the scheme demonstrated by Guerin W et al (2006 Phys. Rev. Lett. 97 200402). Both the outcoupling spectrum (flux of the atom laser versus rf frequency of the outcoupler) and the flux limitations imposed on operating in the quasi-continuous regime are investigated. These aspects are studied using a quasi-one-dimensional model, whose predictions are shown to be in fair agreement with the experimental observations. This work allows us to identify the operating range of the guided atom laser and to confirm its promises with regard to studying quantum transport phenomena.

Phillip F. Schewe

Yonho Song

One of the more promising proposals for guiding and focusing neutral atoms involves dark hollow laser beams. When the frequency of the laser is detuned to the blue of resonance, the dipole force the atoms feel in the light confines them to the dark core where the atoms can be transported with minimal interaction with the light. The ability of the all-light atom guides to transport large number of ultracold atoms for long distances without physical walls leads to the possibility of a versatile tool for atom lithography, atom interferometry, atomic spectroscopy as well as for transporting and manipulating Bose-Einstein condensates. Furthermore since the atoms transported in all-light atom guides do not come into contact with matter, they can in principle be used to transport antimatter as well. In this work a hollow beam atom tunnel is demonstrated by guiding magneto-optically trapped ultracold cesium atoms with a hollow core laser beam. The 1mm diameter diffractionless hollow beam used to construct the atom tunnel was generated from a TEM00 mode diode laser at 852 nm using a series of axicons and simple lenses. The axicon generated hollow beam has a dark core extended for most of its diameter and

Jonathan D. Hood

New opportunities for optical physics emerge from the integration of cold atoms with nanophotonic devices. Due to their small optical loss and tight field confinement, these nanoscale dielectric devices are capable of mediating strong atom-light interactions and open new avenues for quantum transport and quantum many-body phenomena. In particular, coupling atoms to the band edge of a photonic crystal waveguide (PCW) provides a unique platform for generating tunable range coherent atom-atom interactions which are mediated by the guided mode photons.