Theoretical study of a cold atom beam splitter
Résumé
A theoretical model is presented for the study of the dynamics of a cold atomic cloud falling in the gravity field in the presence of two crossing dipole guides. The cloud is splitted between the two branches of this laser guide, and we compare experimental measurements of the splitting efficiency with semi-classical simulations. We then explore the possibilities of optimization of this beam splitter. Our numerical study also gives access to detailed informations, such as the atom temperature after the splitting.