arXiv subjects

Ana Rakonjac

Publications and source records attributed to Ana Rakonjac.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2019

Splitting and recombination of bright-solitary-matter waves

Solitons are long-lived wavepackets that propagate without dispersion and exist in a wide range of one-dimensional (1D) nonlinear systems. A Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a quasi-1D waveguide can support bright-solitary-matter waves (3D analogues of solitons) when interatomic interactions are sufficiently attractive that they cancel dispersion. Solitary-matter waves are excellent candidates for a new generation of highly sensitive interferometers, as their non-dispersive nature allows them to acquire phase shifts for longer times than conventional matter-waves interferometers. However, such an interferometer is yet to be realised experimentally. In this work, we demonstrate the splitting and recombination of a bright-solitary-matter wave on a narrow repulsive barrier, which brings together the fundamental components of an interferometer. We show that both interference-mediated recombination and classical velocity filtering effects are important, but for a sufficiently narrow barrier interference-mediated recombination can dominate. We reveal the extreme sensitivity of interference-mediated recombination to the experimental parameters, highlighting the potential of soliton interferometry.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Spin-orbit coupled interferometry with ring-trapped Bose--Einstein condensates

We propose a method of atom-interferometry using a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with a time-varying magnetic field acting as a coherent beam-splitter. Our protocol creates long-lived superpositional counterflow states, which are of fundamental interest and can be made sensitive to both the Sagnac effect and magnetic fields on the sub-micro-G scale. We split a ring-trapped condensate, initially in the $m_f=0$ hyperfine state, into superpositions of internal $m_f=\pm1$ states and condensate superflow, which are spin-orbit coupled. After interrogation, relative phase accumulation can be inferred from a population transfer to the $m_f=\pm1$ states. The counterflow generation protocol is adiabatically deterministic and does not rely on coupling to additional optical fields or mechanical stirring techniques. Our protocol can maximise the classical Fisher information for any rotation, magnetic field, or interrigation time, and so has the maximum sensitivity available to uncorrelated particles. Precision can increase with the interrogation time, and so is limited only by the lifetime of the condensate.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2013

Steerable optical tweezers for ultracold atom studies

We report on the implementation of an optical tweezer system for controlled transport of ultracold atoms along a narrow, static confinement channel. The tweezer system is based on high-efficiency acousto-optical deflectors and offers two-dimensional control over beam position. This opens up the possibility for tracking the transport channel when shuttling atomic clouds along the guide, forestalling atom spilling. Multiple clouds can be tracked independently by time-shared tweezer beams addressing individual sites in the channel. The deflectors are controlled using a multichannel direct digital synthesizer, which receives instructions on a sub-microsecond time scale from a field-programmable gate array. Using the tweezer system, we demonstrate sequential binary splitting of an ultracold $\rm^{87}Rb$ cloud into $2^5$ clouds.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2013

Note: Computer controlled rotation mount for large diameter optics

We describe the construction of a motorized optical rotation mount with a 40 mm clear aperture. The device is used to remotely control the power of large diameter laser beams for a magneto-optical trap (MOT). A piezo-electric ultrasonic motor on a printed circuit board (PCB) provides rotation with a precision better than 0.03 deg and allows for a very compact design. The rotation unit is controlled from a computer via serial communication, making integration into most software control platforms straightforward.

physics.ins-det↗