Optically guided beam splitter for propagating matter waves

We study experimentally and theoretically a beam splitter setup for guided atomic matter waves. The matter wave is a guided atom laser that can be tuned from quasimonomode to a regime where many transverse modes are populated, and propagates in a horizontal dipole beam until it crosses another horiz...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2012-07, Vol.109 (3), p.030403-030403, Article 030403
Main Authors: Gattobigio, G L, Couvert, A, Reinaudi, G, Georgeot, B, Guéry-Odelin, D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensed Matter
Physics
Quantum Gases
Quantum Physics
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Summary:We study experimentally and theoretically a beam splitter setup for guided atomic matter waves. The matter wave is a guided atom laser that can be tuned from quasimonomode to a regime where many transverse modes are populated, and propagates in a horizontal dipole beam until it crosses another horizontal beam at 45°. We show that depending on the parameters of this X configuration, the atoms can all end up in one of the two beams (the system behaves as a perfect guide switch), or be split between the four available channels (the system behaves as a beam splitter). The splitting regime results from a chaotic scattering dynamics. The existence of these different regimes turns out to be robust against small variations of the parameters of the system. From numerical studies, we also propose a scheme that provides a robust and controlled beam splitter in two channels only.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/physrevlett.109.030403