arXiv subjects

Alain Aspect

Publications and source records attributed to Alain Aspect.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2014

All optical cooling of $^{39}$K to Bose Einstein condensation

We report the all-optical production of Bose Einstein condensates (BEC) of $^{39}$K atoms. We directly load $3 \times 10^{7}$ atoms in a large volume optical dipole trap from gray molasses on the D1 transition. We then apply a small magnetic quadrupole field to polarize the sample before transferring the atoms in a tightly confining optical trap. Evaporative cooling is finally performed close to a Feshbach resonance to enhance the scattering length. Our setup allows to cross the BEC threshold with $3 \times 10^5$ atoms every 7s. As an illustration of the interest of the tunability of the interactions we study the expansion of Bose-Einstein condensates in the 1D to 3D crossover.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2013

Tunable source of correlated atom beams

We use a one-dimensional optical lattice to modify the dispersion relation of atomic matter waves. Four-wave mixing in this situation produces atom pairs in two well defined beams. We show that these beams present a narrow momentum correlation, that their momenta are precisely tunable, and that this pair source can be operated both in the regime of low mode occupancy and of high mode occupancy.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2013

Influence of Gold Coating and Interplate Voltage on the Performance of Chevron Micro-Channel Plates for the Time and Space Resolved Single Particle Detection

We present a study of two di fferent sets of Micro-Channel Plates used for time and space resolved single particle detection. We investigate the eff ects of the gold coating and that of introducing an interplate voltage between the spatially separated plates. We fi nd that the gold coating increases the count rate of the detector and the pulse amplitude as previously reported for non-spatially resolved setups. The interplate voltage also increases count rates. In addition, we nd that a non-zero interplate voltage improves the spatial accuracy in determining the arrival position of incoming single particles (by 20%) while the gold coating has a negative e ect (by 30%).

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2012

Coherent Backscattering of Ultracold Atoms

We report on the direct observation of coherent backscattering (CBS) of ultracold atoms, in a quasi-two-dimensional configuration. Launching atoms with a well-defined momentum in a laser speckle disordered potential, we follow the progressive build up of the momentum scattering pattern, consisting of a ring associated with multiple elastic scattering, and the CBS peak in the backward direction. Monitoring the depletion of the initial momentum component and the formation of the angular ring profile allows us to determine microscopic transport quantities. The time resolved evolution of the CBS peak is studied and is found a fair agreement with predictions, at long times as well as at short times. The observation of CBS can be considered a direct signature of coherence in quantum transport of particles in disordered media. It is responsible for the so called weak localization phenomenon, which is the precursor of Anderson localization.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2012

Anderson localization of matter waves in tailored disordered potentials

We show that, in contrast to immediate intuition, Anderson localization of noninteracting particles induced by a disordered potential in free space can increase (i.e., the localization length can decrease) when the particle energy increases, for appropriately tailored disorder correlations. We predict the effect in one, two, and three dimensions, and propose a simple method to observe it using ultracold atoms placed in optical disorder. The increase of localization with the particle energy can serve to discriminate quantum versus classical localization.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2012

Three-dimensional localization of ultracold atoms in an optical disordered potential

We report a study of three-dimensional (3D) localization of ultracold atoms suspended against gravity, and released in a 3D optical disordered potential with short correlation lengths in all directions. We observe density profiles composed of a steady localized part and a diffusive part. Our observations are compatible with the self-consistent theory of Anderson localization, taking into account the specific features of the experiment, and in particular the broad energy distribution of the atoms placed in the disordered potential. The localization we observe cannot be interpreted as trapping of particles with energy below the classical percolation threshold.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2012

Effect of disorder close to the superfluid transition in a two-dimensional Bose gas

We experimentally study the effect of disorder on trapped quasi two-dimensional (2D) 87Rb clouds in the vicinity of the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) phase transition. The disorder correlation length is of the order of the Bose gas characteristic length scales (thermal de Broglie wavelength, healing length) and disorder thus modifies the physics at a microscopic level. We analyze the coherence properties of the cloud through measurements of the momentum distributions, for two disorder strengths, as a function of its degeneracy. For moderate disorder, the emergence of coherence remains steep but is shifted to a lower entropy. In contrast, for strong disorder, the growth of coherence is hindered. Our study is an experimental realization of the dirty boson problem in a well controlled atomic system suitable for quantitative analysis.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2012

A study of atom localization in an optical lattice by analysis of the scattered light

We present an experimental study of a four beam optical lattice using the light scattered by the atoms in the lattice. We use both intensity correlations and observations of the transient behavior of the scattering when the lattice is suddenly switched on. We compare results for 3 different configurations of the optical lattice. We create situations in which the Lamb-Dicke effect is negligible and show that, in contrast to what has been stated in some of the literature, the damping rate of the 'coherent' atomic oscillations can be much smaller than the inelastic photon scattering rate.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2011

Coherence properties of a 2D trapped Bose gas around the superfluid transition

We measure the momentum distribution of a 2D trapped Bose gas and observe the increase of the range of coherence around the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition. We quantitatively compare our observed profiles to both a Hartee-Fock mean-field theory and to quantum Monte-Carlo simulations. In the normal phase, we already observe a sharpening of the momentum distribution. This behavior is partially captured in a mean-field approach, in contrast to the physics of the BKT transition.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2011

Localization of a matter wave packet in a disordered potential

We theoretically study the Anderson localization of a matter wave packet in a one-dimensional disordered potential. We develop an analytical model which includes the initial phase-space density of the matter wave and the spectral broadening induced by the disorder. Our approach predicts a behavior of the localized density profile significantly more complex than a simple exponential decay. These results are confirmed by large-scale and long-time numerical calculations. They shed new light on recent experiments with ultracold atoms and may impact their analysis.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2010

Quasicontinuous horizontally guided atom laser: coupling spectrum and flux limits

We study in detail the flux properties of a radiofrequency outcoupled horizontally guided atom laser, following the scheme demonstrated in [Guerin W et al. 2006 Phys. Rev. Lett. 97 200402]. Both the outcoupling spectrum (flux of the atom laser versus rf frequency of the outcoupler) and the flux limitations imposed to operate in the quasicontinuous regime are investigated. These aspects are studied using a quasi-1D model, whose predictions are shown to be in fair agreement with the experimental observations. This work allows us to identify the operating range of the guided atom laser and to confirm its good promises in view of studying quantum transport phenomena.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2010

Phase sensitive measurements of order parameters for ultracold atoms through two particles interferometry

Nontrivial symmetry of order parameters is crucial in some of the most interesting quantum many-body states of ultracold atoms and condensed matter systems. Examples in cold atoms include p-wave Feshbach molecules and d-wave paired states of fermions that could be realized in optical lattices in the Hubbard regime. Identifying these states in experiments requires measurements of the relative phase of different components of the entangled pair wavefunction. We propose and discuss two schemes for such phase sensitive measurements, based on two-particle interference revealed in atom-atom or atomic density correlations. Our schemes can also be used for relative phase measurements for non-trivial particle-hole order parameters, such as d-density wave order.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2010

Sub-Poissonian number differences in four-wave mixing of matter waves

We demonstrate sub-Poissonian number differences in four-wave mixing of Bose-Einstein condensates of metastable helium. The collision between two Bose-Einstein condensates produces a scattering halo populated by pairs of atoms of opposing velocities, which we divide into several symmetric zones. We show that the atom number difference for opposing zones has sub-Poissonian noise fluctuations whereas that of nonopposing zones is well described by shot noise. The atom pairs produced in a dual number state are well adapted to sub shot-noise interferometry and studies of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen-type nonlocality tests.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2009

A quantum trampoline for ultra-cold atoms

We have observed the interferometric suspension of a free-falling Bose-Einstein condensate periodically submitted to multiple-order diffraction by a vertical 1D standing wave. The various diffracted matter waves recombine coherently, resulting in high contrast interference in the number of atoms detected at constant height. For long suspension times, multiple-wave interference is revealed through a sharpening of the fringes. We use this scheme to measure the acceleration of gravity.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2009

One-dimensional Anderson localization in certain correlated random potentials

We study Anderson localization of ultracold atoms in weak, one-dimensional speckle potentials, using perturbation theory beyond Born approximation. We show the existence of a series of sharp crossovers (effective mobility edges) between energy regions where localization lengths differ by orders of magnitude. We also point out that the correction to the Born term explicitly depends on the sign of the potential. Our results are in agreement with numerical calculations in a regime relevant for experiments. Finally, we analyze our findings in the light of a diagrammatic approach.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2009

Towards a monolithic optical cavity for atom detection and manipulation

We study a Fabry-Perot cavity formed from a ridge waveguide on a AlGaAs substrate. We experimentally determined the propagation losses in the waveguide at 780 nm, the wavelength of Rb atoms. We have also made a numerical and analytical estimate of the losses induced by the presence of the gap which would allow the interaction of cold atoms with the cavity field. We found that the intrinsic finesse of the gapped cavity can be on the order of F ~ 30, which, when one takes into account the losses due to mirror transmission, corresponds to a cooperativity parameter for our system C ~ 1.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2008

Light-shift tomography in an optical-dipole trap for neutral atoms

We report on light-shift tomography of a cloud of 87 Rb atoms in a far-detuned optical-dipole trap at 1565 nm. Our method is based on standard absorption imaging, but takes advantage of the strong light-shift of the excited state of the imaging transition, which is due to a quasi-resonance of the trapping laser with a higher excited level. We use this method to (i) map the equipotentials of a crossed optical-dipole trap, and (ii) study the thermalisation of an atomic cloud by following the evolution of the potential-energy of atoms during the free-evaporation process.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2008

Disorder-induced trapping versus Anderson localization in Bose-Einstein condensates expanding in disordered potentials

We theoretically investigate the localization of an expanding Bose-Einstein condensate with repulsive atom-atom interactions in a disordered potential. We focus on the regime where the initial inter-atomic interactions dominate over the kinetic energy and the disorder. At equilibrium in a trapping potential and for small disorder, the condensate shows a Thomas-Fermi shape modified by the disorder. When the condensate is released from the trap, a strong suppression of the expansion is obtained in contrast to the situation in a periodic potential with similar characteristics. This effect crucially depends on both the momentum distribution of the expanding BEC and the strength of the disorder. For strong disorder, the suppression of the expansion results from the fragmentation of the core of the condensate and from classical reflections from large modulations of the disordered potential in the tails of the condensate. We identify the corresponding disorder-induced trapping scenario for which large atom-atom interactions and strong reflections from single modulations of the disordered potential play central roles. For weak disorder, the suppression of the expansion signals the onset of Anderson localization, which is due to multiple scattering from the modulations of the disordered potential. We compute analytically the localized density profile of the condensate and show that the localization crucially depends on the correlation function of the disorder. In particular, for speckle potentials the long-range correlations induce an effective mobility edge in 1D finite systems. Numerical calculations performed in the mean-field approximation support our analysis for both strong and weak disorder.

cond-mat.other↗