Observing the profile of an atom laser beam

Kohl, M.; Busch, Thomas; Molmer, K.; Hansch, T. W.; Esslinger, T.

Observing the profile of an atom laser beam

Files

3585.pdf(172.53 KB)

Published Version

Date

2005

Authors

Kohl, M.

Busch, Thomas

Molmer, K.

Hansch, T. W.

Esslinger, T.

Publisher

American Physical Society

Published Version

10.1103/PhysRevA.72.063618

Abstract

We report on an investigation of the beam profile of an atom laser extracted from a magnetically trapped Rb-87 Bose-Einstein condensate. The transverse momentum distribution is magnified by a curved mirror for matter waves and a momentum resolution of 1/60 of a photon recoil is obtained. We find the transverse momentum distribution to be determined by the mean-field potential of the residing condensate, which leads to a nonsmooth transverse density distribution. Our experimental data are compared with a full three-dimensional simulation of the output coupling process and we find good agreement.

Keywords

Output coupler , Interference

Citation

Köhl, M., Busch, T., Mølmer, K., Hänsch, T. W. and Esslinger, T. (2005) 'Observing the profile of an atom laser beam', Physical Review A, 72(6), 063618 (4pp). doi: 10.1103/PhysRevA.72.063618