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arXiv:cond-mat/0606015 · New Journal of Physics

Experimental study of the transport of coherent interacting matter-waves in a 1D random potential induced by laser speckle

David Clément, A. F. Varón, J. A. Retter, Laurent Sanchez-Palencia, Alain Aspect, Philippe Bouyer

Published Aug 30, 2006• 213 citations
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Abstract

We present a detailed analysis of the 1D expansion of a coherent interacting matterwave (a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC)) in the presence of disorder. A 1D random potential is created via laser speckle patterns. It is carefully calibrated and the self-averaging properties of our experimental system are discussed. We observe the suppression of the transport of the BEC in the random potential. We discuss the scenario of disorder-induced trapping taking into account the radial extension in our experimental 3D BEC and we compare our experimental results with the theoretical predictions.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/8/8/165

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We present a detailed analysis of the 1D expansion of a coherent interacting matterwave (a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC)) in the presence of disorder. A 1D random potential is created via laser speckle patterns. It is carefully calibrated and the self-averaging properties of our experimental system are discussed. We observe the suppression of the transport of the BEC in the random potential. We discuss the scenario of disorder-induced trapping taking into account the radial extension in our experimental 3D BEC and we compare our experimental results with the theoretical predictions.
Static and dynamical properties of atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in a random potential. The presence of disorder in systems with long-range coherence leads to fascinating effects such as the localization of waves and the appearance of novels quantum phases. While it is often difficult to isolate the effects of disorder in experiments, atomic Bose-Einstein condensates can be manipulated in a controlled random environment. In this report, several aspects of atomic Bose-Einstein condensates in a random potential induced by laser speckles are discussed. After presenting the realization and the characterization of the speckle potential we first study some properties of the trapped, disordered condensates, in particular the enhancement of large density modulations during time-of-flight. We show that this effect is not related to initial phase fluctuations but originates from small initial density modulations in the trap. Secondly, we report on collective modes of a disordered Bose-Einstein condensate. The absence of frequency shifts and the damping of the dipole mode in the presence of disorder are discussed. Then we present measurements of the velocity of sound in a disordered condensate and we show the absence of shift compared to the non-disordered case. At last, we report on the suppression of the 1D expansion of an interacting matter-wave in the presence of disorder in two different regimes. In a regime of strong disorder a detailed experimental analysis supports the proposed scenario of trapping where reflexions on a single modulation of the random potential and interactions play a crucial role. A different regime of weak disorder is then investigated theoretically and we show that Anderson localization can happen in this case under the conditions we establish. This scheme has been realized recently in experiments, leading to the observation of the Anderson localization of a matter-wave.
Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) have proven to be remarkable systems with which to study some of the foundational models of condensed matter physics. The observation of a critical velocity for the breakdown of superfluidity in a BEC and the superfluid to Mott insulator transition observed in a BEC trapped by an optical lattice are but two examples of the, by now, dozens of exciting results in this field, which combines theoretical tools from condensed matter physics with state-of-the-art experimental techniques from ultra-cold atomic physics. However, any real condensed matter system has to contend with the effects of disorder, a phenomena notably absent in the inherently clean BEC systems. We have developed and implemented a way to add well characterized disorder in a controlled way to the otherwise clean BEC system using the light field from a laser speckle pattern. Using this system, we have investigated the effects of disorder or a single Gaussian defect, on the collective dipole motion of a BEC of 7Li in an optical trap. In addition, we perform transport experiments on a weakly interacting BEC expanding in a disordered one-dimensional atom wave-guide. We have observed that in such a system, the wave nature of matter can lead to spectacular and counterintuitive phenomena. Specifically, we verify that this system exhibits Anderson localization, a phenomena fundamentally resulting from the interference of multiply scattered matter waves. In such a state, the localized gas behaves as an insulator in a regime where it is classically expected to be conducting.\nWe also present results of experiments regarding a repulsive BEC scattering from a semi-permeable, single defect potential. We investigate the transport properties of such a system with special emphasis on the velocity and defect strength dependent dissipation of the collective dipole motion of the BEC. Finally, we present the results of our experiments on the scattering properties of bright matter wave solitons. We have observed fragmentation of the soliton in a disordered potential as well as both splitting and recombination of a soliton after interacting with a single repulsive defect potential.
The Study of transport and phase coherence in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of 7 Li subjected to a 1D disordered potential, provides an excellent system to explore the effects of impurities on a quantum gas. Observations of the median cloud position as the BEC is moved through the disorder potential provide evidence of inhibited transport due to classical reflections. Careful study of the damping coefficient for dipole oscillations shows a power law relationship with disorder strength ( V D ). A highly elongated BEC and large disorder length scale, (σ d = 14 pm), allow direct probing of disorder induced density modulations in the in-situ BEC. Large density fluctuations are observed to evolve from the in-situ density modulations for moderate V D , and phase coherence is suppressed at large V D . An improved speckle pattern has been designed, for future experiments, with a reduced σ d and an aspect ratio that more closely matches the BEC.