arXiv subjects

Giovanni Modugno

Publications and source records attributed to Giovanni Modugno.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Direct evaporative cooling of 39K atoms to Bose-Einstein condensation

We report the realization of Bose-Einstein condensates of 39K atoms without the aid of an additional atomic coolant. Our route to Bose-Einstein condensation comprises Sub Doppler laser cooling of large atomic clouds with more than 10^10 atoms and evaporative cooling in optical dipole traps where the collisional cross section can be increased using magnetic Feshbach resonances. Large condensates with almost 10^6 atoms can be produced in less than 15 seconds. Our achievements eliminate the need for sympathetic cooling with Rb atoms which was the usual route implemented till date due to the unfavourable collisional property of 39K. Our findings simplify the experimental set-up for producing Bose-Einstein condensates of 39K atoms with tunable interactions, which have a wide variety of promising applications including atom-interferometry to studies on the interplay of disorder and interactions in quantum gases.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2010

Anderson localization in Bose-Einstein condensates

The understanding of disordered quantum systems is still far from being complete, despite many decades of research on a variety of physical systems. In this review we discuss how Bose-Einstein condensates of ultracold atoms in disordered potentials have opened a new window for studying fundamental phenomena related to disorder. In particular, we point our attention to recent experimental studies on Anderson localization and on the interplay of disorder and weak interactions. These realize a very promising starting point for a deeper understanding of the complex behaviour of interacting, disordered systems.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2010

SAI: a compact atom interferometer for future space missions

Atom interferometry represents a quantum leap in the technology for the ultra-precise monitoring of accelerations and rotations and, therefore, for all the science that relies on the latter quantities. These sensors evolved from a new kind of optics based on matter-waves rather than light-waves and might result in an advancement of the fundamental detection limits by several orders of magnitude. Matter-wave optics is still a young, but rapidly progressing science. The Space Atom Interferometer project (SAI), funded by the European Space Agency, in a multi-pronged approach aims to investigate both experimentally and theoretically the various aspects of placing atom interferometers in space: the equipment needs, the realistically expected performance limits and potential scientific applications in a micro-gravity environment considering all aspects of quantum, relativistic and metrological sciences. A drop-tower compatible prototype of a single-axis atom interferometry accelerometer is under construction. At the same time the team is studying new schemes, e.g. based on degenerate quantum gases as source for the interferometer. A drop-tower compatible atom interferometry acceleration sensor prototype has been designed, and the manufacturing of its subsystems has been started. A compact modular laser system for cooling and trapping rubidium atoms has been assembled. A compact Raman laser module, featuring outstandingly low phase noise, has been realized. Possible schemes to implement coherent atomic sources in the atom interferometer have been experimentally demonstrated.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2007

Atom interferometry with a weakly-interacting Bose Einstein condensate

We demonstrate the operation of an atom interferometer based on a weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate. We strongly reduce the interaction induced decoherence that usually limits interferometers based on trapped condensates by tuning the s-wave scattering length almost to zero via a magnetic Feshbach resonance. We employ a $^{39}$K condensate trapped in an optical lattice, where Bloch oscillations are forced by gravity. With a control of the scattering length better that 0.1 $a_0$ we achieve coherence times of several hundreds of ms. The micrometric sizes of the atomic sample make our sensor an ideal candidate for measuring forces with high spatial resolution. Our technique can be in principle extended to other measurement schemes opening new possibilities in the field of trapped atom interferometry.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2007

Fermi-Bose mixture with tunable interactions

We give an overview of recent experiments on an ultracold Fermi-Bose quantum gas where the interspecies interaction can be tuned via magnetic Feshbach resonances. We first describe the various steps that have led to the observation of Feshbach resonances in the K-Rb system we investigate, and their accurate characterization. We then describe experiments in which Feshbach resonances are exploited to study interaction effects and to associate weakly bound KRb dimers.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2006

Feshbach spectroscopy of a K-Rb atomic mixture

We perform extensive magnetic Feshbach spectroscopy of an ultracold mixture of fermionic 40K and bosonic 87Rb atoms. The magnetic-field locations of 14 interspecies resonances is used to construct a quantum collision model able to predict accurate collisional parameters for all K-Rb isotopic pairs. In particular we determine the interspecies s-wave singlet and triplet scattering lengths for the 40K-87Rb mixture as -111 +/- 5 Bohr and -215 +/- 10 Bohr respectively. We also predict accurate scattering lengths and position of Feshbach resonances for the other K-Rb isotopic pairs. We discuss the consequences of our results for current and future experiments with ultracold K-Rb mixtures.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2005

Sensitive measurement of forces at micron scale using Bloch oscillations of ultracold atoms

We show that Bloch oscillations of ultracold fermionic atoms in the periodic potential of an optical lattice can be used for a sensitive measurement of forces at the micrometer length scale, e.g. in the vicinity of dielectric surface. In particular, the proposed approach allows to perform a local and direct measurement of the Casimir-Polder force which is, for realistic experimental parameters, as large as 10^-4 gravity.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2000

Testing the Symmetrization Postulate on Molecules with Three Identical Nuclei

We propose an experiment to look for possible small violations of the symmetrization postulate of Quantum Mechanics, in systems composed by three identical particles. Such violations could be detected by investigating the population of particular roto-vibrational states of symmetrical molecules containing three identical nuclei. We discuss the symmetry properties of such states, and the implications of the symmetrization postulate and of the spin-statistics. A high sensitivity spectroscopic investigation on simple molecules such as SO3, BH3 and NH3 could lead to the first test of the symmetrization postulate for spin-0 and spin-1/2 nuclei.

quant-ph↗