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arXiv:cond-mat/0607438 · Physical Review Letters

Guided Quasicontinuous Atom Laser

William Guerin, J.-F. Riou, John Gaebler, Vincent Josse, Philippe Bouyer, Alain Aspect

Published Nov 13, 2006• 122 citations
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Abstract

We report the first realization of a guided quasicontinuous atom laser by rf outcoupling a Bose-Einstein condensate from a hybrid optomagnetic trap into a horizontal atomic waveguide. This configuration allows us to cancel the acceleration due to gravity and keep the de Broglie wavelength constant at 0.5 microm during 0.1 s of propagation. We also show that our configuration, equivalent to pigtailing an optical fiber to a (photon) semiconductor laser, ensures an intrinsically good transverse mode matching.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.97.200402

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•Jan 1, 2007•0 citations
We report the first realization of a guided quasicontinuous atom laser by rf outcoupling a Bose-Einstein condensate from a hybrid optomagnetic trap into a horizontal atomic waveguide. This configuration allows us to cancel the acceleration due to gravity and keep the de Broglie wavelength constant at 0.5 microm during 0.1 s of propagation. We also show that our configuration, equivalent to pigtailing an optical fiber to a (photon) semiconductor laser, ensures an intrinsically good transverse mode matching.
We present a guided atom laser. A Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is created in a crossed hybrid magnetic and an elongated optical trap, which acts as a matterwave guide. Atoms are extracted from the BEC by radio frequency (rf) outcoupling and then guided in the horizontal optical matterwave guide. This method allows to control the acceleration of the beam and to achieve large de Broglie wavelength. We also measure the longitudinal energy of the guided atom laser using atom optical elements based on a blue light barrier.
We analyze the outcoupling of a matter wave into a guide by a time-dependent spilling of the atoms from an initially trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. This process yields intrinsically a breakdown of the adiabatic condition that triggers the outcoupling of the wave function. Our analysis of the time-dependent engineering and manipulation of condensates in momentum space in this context enables us to work out the limits due to interactions in the mode quality of a guided-atom laser. This study is consistent with recent experimental observations of low transverse excitations of guided-atom lasers and suggests (i) an optimal strategy to realize such quasimonomode guided-atom lasers with, in addition, the lowest possible longitudinal velocity dispersion or alternatively (ii) a strategy for engineering the atomic flux of the atom laser.
We report the achievement of an optically guided and quasi-monomode atom laser, in all spin projection states ( m F =-1, 0 and +1) of F =1 in rubidium 87. The atom laser source is a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a crossed dipole trap, purified to any one spin projection state by a spin-distillation process applied during the evaporation to BEC. The atom laser is outcoupled by an inhomogenous magnetic field, applied along the waveguide axis. The mean excitation number in the transverse modes is ⟨ n ⟩=0.65±0.05 for m F =0 and ⟨ n ⟩=0.8±0.3 for the low-field seeker m F =-1. Using a simple thermodynamical model, we infer from our data the population in each excited mode.
Ultracold atoms whose de Broglie wavelength is of the same order as an extended confining potential can experience waveguiding along the potential. When the transverse kinetic energy of the atoms is sufficiently low, they can be guided in the lowest order mode of the confining potential by analogy with light guided by a single mode optical fiber. We have obtained the first images of the transverse mode structure of guided matter waves in a confining potential with up to 6565%65 of atoms in the lowest order mode. The coherence of the guided atomic de Broglie waves is demonstrated by the diffraction pattern produced when incident upon a two dimensional periodic structure. Such coherent waveguides will be important atom optic components in devices with applications such as atom holography and atom interferometry.
We analyze the extraction from a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate to a nontrapping state of a coherent atomic beam and its subsequent fall, at T = 0 K. Our treatment fully takes gravity into account but neglects the mean-field potential exerted on the free falling beam by the trapped atoms. We derive analytical expressions for the output rate and the output mode of the quasicontinuous "atom laser." Comparison with experimental data of Bloch et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 3008 (1999)] is satisfactory.
Un laser à atomes est un faisceau atomique extrait d un condensat de Bose-Einstein, nuage d atomes piégé et refroidi jusqu à la dégénérescence quantique. Dans la perspective de futures applications de cette source atomique cohérente, par exemple à l interférométrie atomique de précision, il est nécessaire de bien maîtriser les propriétés du faisceau. Certaines caractéristiques, en particulier, rendent les lasers à atomes bien différents des lasers photoniques, comme la présence d interactions fortes entre les atomes, et leur sensibilité à la gravité.Nous rapportons dans cette thèse une étude du mode transverse d un laser à atomes, et montrons que celui-ci est fortement dégradé par les interactions avec le condensat-source. Par extension du formalisme existant pour les ondes optiques, nous caractérisons le faisceau par un facteur de qualité M2.Dans un deuxième temps, nous mettons en oeuvre une méthode permettant de s affranchir de la gravité, qui habituellement accélère les atomes et fait décroître très rapidement la longueur d onde de de Broglie de l onde de matière. Nous utilisons pour cela un guide optique, formé d un piège dipolaire très anisotrope, pour guider le laser à atomes horizontalement. Nous obtenons ainsi un laser à atomes dont la longueur d onde est fixe au cours de la propagation, de l ordre de 0.5 m. Afin d injecter de manière efficace le faisceau dans le guide, nous créons le condensat dans le piège hybride obtenu à l intersection du guide optique et d un piège magnétique. Nous montrons que cette configuration assure intrinsèquement une bonne adaptation de mode.