Transport of atoms in a quantum conveyor belt

Antoine Browaeys (1) , H. Haeffner (2) , C. Mckenzie (3) , S. L. Rolston (4) , K. Helmerson (5) , W. D. Phillips

1 Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique / Optique quantique
2 IQOQI - Institut fur Quantenoptik und Quanteninformation
3 University of Otago [Dunedin, Nouvelle-Zélande]
4 University of Maryland [College Park]
5 Monash University [Clayton]

We have performed experiments using a 3D-Bose-Einstein condensate of sodium atoms in a 1D optical lattice to explore some unusual properties of band-structure. In particular, we investigate the loading of a condensate into a moving lattice and find non-intuitive behavior. We also revisit the behavior of atoms, prepared in a single quasimomentum state, in an accelerating lattice. We generalize this study to a cloud whose atoms have a large quasimomentum spread, and show that the cloud behaves differently from atoms in a single Bloch state. Finally, we compare our findings with recent experiments performed with fermions in an optical lattice.

Domains: Other [cond-mat.other]

Antoine Browaeys, H. Haeffner, C. Mckenzie, S. L. Rolston, K. Helmerson, et al.. Transport of atoms in a quantum conveyor belt. Physical Review A : Atomic, molecular, and optical physics [1990-2015], 2005, 72, pp.053605. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevA.72.053605⟩. ⟨hal-00687518⟩