Quasi-continuous atom laser in the presence of gravity

Fabrice Gerbier (1) , Philippe Bouyer (1) , Alain Aspect (1)

1 laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique / Optique atomique

We analyse the extraction of a coherent atomic beam from a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate using a rf transition to a non-trapping state at T=0 K. Our quantum treatment fully takes gravity into account but neglects all interactions in the free falling beam. We obtain an analytical expression of the output rate and of the wave function of the extracted beam, i.e. the output mode of the ''atom laser''. Our model reproduces satisfactorily experimental data without any adjustable parameter.

Domaines: Autre [cond-mat.other]; Physique Atomique [physics.atom-ph]; Physique Quantique [quant-ph]

Fabrice Gerbier, Philippe Bouyer, Alain Aspect. Quasi-continuous atom laser in the presence of gravity. Physical Review Letters, 2001, 86, pp.4729-4732. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevLett.86.4729⟩. ⟨hal-00116292⟩