This thesis details the study of the dynamics of ultra cold gaseous atoms subjected to an amplitude modulated optical standing wave: the
Quantum Driven Pendulum (QDP). The atomic system exhibited both classical and quantum characteristics enabling us to study the transition between these very different dynamics. In particular, we were able to tune the system from a deep quantum regime, in which we observed quantum dynamical tunnelling for the first time, to one that was completely describable by classical dynamics. Experimental demonstration of the QDP and its dynamics illustrated that cold atoms form an ideal test bed which could be used to address some of the longstanding questions in the field of quantum chaos. Many interesting phenomenon are now being observed in the field of atom optics, especially with the advent of the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). To incorporate the advantages of using coherent matter in our future experiments, the foundations for creation of a BEC were also constructed in this PhD
project. This involved new techniques in the fabrication of an atom chip capable of producing tight and deep magnetic traps.
This thesis details the study of the dynamics of ultra cold gaseous atoms subjected to an amplitude modulated optical standing wave: the
Quantum Driven Pendulum (QDP). The atomic system exhibited both classical and quantum characteristics enabling us to study the transition between these very different dynamics. In particular, we were able to tune the system from a deep quantum regime, in which we observed quantum dynamical tunnelling for the first time, to one that was completely describable by classical dynamics. Experimental demonstration of the QDP and its dynamics illustrated that cold atoms form an ideal test bed which could be used to address some of the longstanding questions in the field of quantum chaos. Many interesting phenomenon are now being observed in the field of atom optics, especially with the advent of the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). To incorporate the advantages of using coherent matter in our future experiments, the foundations for creation of a BEC were also constructed in this PhD
project. This involved new techniques in the fabrication of an atom chip capable of producing tight and deep magnetic traps.
Cold atoms in optical potentials provide an ideal test bed to explore quantum nonlinear dynamics. Atoms are prepared in a magneto-optic trap or as a dilute Bose–Einstein condensate and subjected to a far detuned optical standing wave that is modulated. They exhibit a wide range of dynamics, some of which can be explained by classical theory while other aspects show the underlying quantum nature of the system. The atoms have a mixed phase space containing regions of regular motion which appear as distinct peaks in the atomic momentum distribution embedded in a sea of chaos. The action of the atoms is of the order of Planck’s constant, making quantum effects significant. This tutorial presents a detailed description of experiments measuring the evolution of atoms in time-dependent optical potentials. Experimental methods are developed providing means for the observation and selective loading of regions of regular motion. The dependence of the atomic dynamics on the system parameters is explored and distinct changes in the atomic momentum distribution are observed which are explained by the applicable quantum and classical theory. The observation of a bifurcation sequence is reported and explained using classical perturbation theory. Experimental methods for the accurate control of the momentum of an ensemble of atoms are developed. They use phase space resonances and chaotic transients providing novel ensemble atomic beamsplitters. The divergence between quantum and classical nonlinear dynamics is manifest in the experimental observation of dynamical tunnelling. It involves no potential barrier. However a constant of motion other than energy still forbids classically this quantum allowed motion. Atoms coherently tunnel back and forth between their initial state of oscillatory motion and the state 180 ° out of phase with the initial state.
The entry into the new millennium was marked in the quantum community by the first experimental realizations of the Bose-Einstein condensation of atoms in a vapor, achieved in different research groups. Twenty-five years later, such systems are 'routinely' produced and are the core of many experiments. At the frontier between condensed matter their y, quantum optics, and atomic physics, ultra-cold atoms are subjects of high scientific interest.Ultra-cold gas can be trapped in optical lattices, giving a realistic way of experimentally realizing a new range of lattice Hamiltonians, that are used to simulate condensed matter systems. In these simulations, ultra-cold atoms are used to mimic the behavior of electrons in a solid-state material and could be used to simulate a wide range of complex condensed matter phenomena, such as the fractional quantum Hall effect, topological insulators, and high-temperature superconductivity.In order to study such systems, diffraction-limited quantum gas microscopes have emerged as a way to manipulate and detect atoms trapped in lattice potentials. Using far-field interference, experiments have mainly been restricted to a lattice spacing of 500 nm. This limits the speed of dynamics of all physical processes.Higher energy regimes could be accessed by reducing the lattice spacing. For this purpose, one of the long-term goals of the team is to trap atoms in the near-field of a surface and to make use of the Casimir-Polder forces to shape sub-wavelength potentials. Thanks to nano-fabrication capabilities, the spacing can be reduced to a few tens of nanometers. However, this requires to adapt the imaging techniques to observe cold-atoms with sub-wavelength spatial resolutions.In this PhD thesis, I report first on the advances toward implementing an atom chip in our experiment, which will serve as an integrated platform to manipulate the quantum gas. I present simulations and study an experimental solution allowing the cloud to be transported to the near-field. The method is based on the interference of a laser radiation in the near field of a rotating surface. It has been fully simulated, and the limitations have been numerically and experimentally assessed. I conclude this part by presenting the first model of chip that has been fabricated.In a second part, I report on the development of a sub-wavelength imaging method of cold Rubidium 87 atoms which is based on excited state dressing. I detail the concept of this nano-metric spatial resolution method and apply it to super-resolve a single longitudinal wave function trapped in a tight lattice that exhibits a width below 30 nm.
The objective of this PhD thesis was the examination of the dynamical behaviour of coherent wave packets realised by Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) out of 87Rubidium atoms. Their dynamics is mainly affected by linear dispersion due to momentum uncertainty and by nonlinear atomic interaction due to s-wave scattering. The primary objective was the realisation of bright atomic solitons, which represent density distributions with time-independent shape. They only exist if the effects of dispersion and nonlinearity cancel out each other. For 87Rb atoms with repulsive interaction this requires the dispersion of the ensemble to be anomalous. The dispersion of the wave packet can be influenced in sign and in magnitude by superimposing a periodic potential and by changing the quasi-momentum of the atoms. For that purpose an apparatus to produce Bose-Einstein condesates as source of coherent matter waves was build up and characterised. The phase transition was observed as well in magnetic as in optical dipole traps. Experiments related to the dynamic of wave packets were conducted in a twodimensional optical trap retaining the atoms against gravity and allowing them to propagate along the axis of the trap. The periodic potential to influence the dispersion results from two counterpropagating interfering laser beams superimposed to the dipole trap. A first set of experiments demonstrated the possibility to influence the linear dispersion of matter waves by changing the quasi-momentum of the atoms in a periodic potential. In particular wave packets with anomalous dispersion were prepared at the brillouin zone edge in quasi-momentum space. Their behaviour is equivalent to particles with a negative effective mass, which was be confirmed by reversing the time evolution of an expanding wave packet. This demonstration of a negative effective mass of wave packets was an essential prerequisite for the creation of atomic solitons. Their formation was observed having prepared Bose-Einstein condensates of only 1000 atoms. A further set of systematic experiments was performed confirming the solitonic behaviour of the wave packets. This was the first realisation of atomic solitons with repulsive interaction also called Gap-Solitons.
The confinement and control of atomic clouds, at temperatures measured in nanokelvin, has become a valuable tool for physicists. As a source of new physics, development of cooling techniques has led to innovative new ways to probe the nature of reality. Of particular note are experiments carried out on new and exotic states of matter such as the Bose-Einstein condensate, unseen before the advent of these techniques. Likewise, the potential for applications outside of the lab is extensive and encompasses navigation, timekeeping, quantum communication and quantum computing. Manipulating cold atoms in the presence of a so-called ‘atom chip’ (a millimetre-scale electronic device) is currently considered the future of miniaturising these experiments and measurements, but since they still require precisely locked and stabilised lasers and predominantly must take place in the ultra-high vacuum regime, quantum control relies on an extensive and well-established infrastructure of optics, electronics, vacuum chambers and pumps. This encumbrance has slowed down the transition from chip-in-a-lab experiments to lab-on-a-chip technologies. This thesis is an account of work carried out in the development of enabling technologies which will accelerate this transition, including details of prototype devices made using established semiconductor and MEMS planar fabrication techniques. The construction and testing of an apparatus for anodically and eutectically bonding die-scale samples in ultra-high vacuum is described, along with an analysis and characterisation of some of its products.
This thesis describes production of and experiments with a Bose-Einstein condensate of approximately 2 × 10[superscript 4] [superscript 87]Rb atoms, trapped at the surface of an atom chip. In the first half of this thesis I describe the process of trapping and cooling the atomic vapour close to the surface of an atom chip. This process, which cools the vapour by over 9 orders of magnitude, involves a highly complex sequence of events which I implemented and optimised over the first two years of my PhD. In the early stages of this process, the atomic vapour is laser cooled and magneto-optically trapped. The vapour is then transferred to a highly elongated magnetic trap produced by high field gradients a few hundred microns from the surface of the atom chip. Here the vapour is evaporatively cooled to below the transition temperature where a Bose-Einstein condensate emerges. A simple existing analytic model of evaporative cooling is extended in this work to account for the shape of our highly elongated trap. Predictions of this model are presented here along with experimental observations with which it has good agreement. The second part of my thesis investigates some of the characteristics of the condensate, and dynamics of its low energy collective oscillations in the trap, based on experimental measurements taken in the final 18 months of my PhD. In particular, measurements taken of the centre of mass oscillations of the condensate along the long axis of the trap are presented. In the zero temperature limit the condensate is expected to behave as a perfect superfluid, and these low energy oscillations should go undamped. However, at finite temperature where not all atoms in the gas are condensed, damping is observed. In our experiment significant damping is found with an 1/e decay rate which varies between 2s[superscript -1] and 8s[superscript -1], depending on the fraction of non-condensed atoms in the gas. A finite temperature formalism is then used to describe the likely damping mechanism - Landau damping. We use a simple model of this formalism which estimates the temperature dependence of the damping rate γ(T), but find this gives a significant overestimation of the rates we measure. However, we argue that a straightforward adaptation to this model reduces the predicted damping rate significantly, and suggests a functional form of γ(T) that is in much better agreement with our experimental measurements.
In this thesis I discuss work that has been carried out on the dynamics of a Bose Einstein condensate of Rb 87 produced near an atom chip. A Bose Einstein Condensate (BEC) is a quantum state of matter where a single quantum state becomes occupied by a macroscopic number of identical Bosons. In our case this is achieved by cooling a system of trapped identical rubidium 87 atoms to its ground state. To reach temperatures of condensation we initially laser cool atoms from room temperature, before loading them into a magnetic trap. The magnetic trap is produced through a combination of uniform magnetic fields from coils outside our vacuum chamber and currents running through wires on an atom chip. The atom chip is a microfabricated device, produced by a coating a silicon chip with a thin layer of gold and etching wires into it. Together, these fields create a magnetic field minimum 120μm from the surface of the chip which can be used to confine low field seeking hyperfine states of the atom in an elongated harmonic trap. Once the atoms are confined in the magnetic trap we used force evaporative cooling out to reach the phase space densities required for Bose Einstein condensation. The BEC is used to investigate the relative dynamics between the fraction of the atoms in the condensate to those not in the condensate. Our atom chip provided a suitable environment to investigate this due to fragmentation of the magnetic potential close to the chip. Small imperfections in the wires on our atom chip mean that the trapping potential isn’t smooth. Small regions of higher trapping frequency - or fragments - are formed. Due to the small size of these fragments it is possible to find a position where a condensate can form in the fragment, and see a potential of high frequency, whereas a non-condensed atom will see a lower frequency potential. We exploit this to set the condensed fraction moving relative to the non condensed part and investigate the subsequent damping of their motion relative to each other.