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Collapse and Revival of the Matter Wave Field of a Bose-Einstein Condensate

Markus Greiner·Olaf Mandel·Theodor W. Haensch·Immanuel Bloch
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Abstract

At the heart of a Bose-Einstein condensate lies its description as a single giant matter wave. Such a Bose-Einstein condensate represents the most "classical" form of a matter wave, just as an optical laser emits the most classical form of an electromagnetic wave. Beneath this giant matter wave, however, the discrete atoms represent a crucial granularity, i.e. a quantization of this matter wave field. Here we show experimentally that this quantization together with the cold collisions between atoms lead to a series of collapses and revivals of the coherent matter wave field of a Bose-Einstein condensate. We observe such collapses and revivals directly in the dynamical evolution of a multiple matter wave interference pattern, and thereby demonstrate a striking new behaviour of macroscopic quantum matter.

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Markus Greiner, Olaf Mandel, Theodor W. Haensch, Immanuel Bloch. 2002-07-08. Collapse and Revival of the Matter Wave Field of a Bose-Einstein Condensate. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature00968

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