Berlin 2001 – scientific programme

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Q: Quantenoptik

Q 1: Poster: Atom Optics

Q 1.16: Poster

Monday, April 2, 2001, 12:30–15:00, AT2

Dark Solitons in Bose-Einstein Condensates — •Stefanie Dettmer, Dirk Hellweg, Markus Kottke, Holger Schmaljohann, Jan Arlt, Kai Bongs, Sven Burger, Wolfgang Ertmer, and Klaus Sengstock — Institut für Quantenoptik, Universität Hannover, Welfengarten 1, 30167 Hannover

One of the most striking properties of Bose-Einstein condensates of weakly interacting atomic gases is the nonlinearity of these quantum mechanical systems. Of particular interest in the new field of nonlinear atom optics are macroscopically excited Bose condensed states such as solitons and vortices. Conceptually, solitons as particlelike objects provide a link to fluid mechanics, nonlinear optics, and fundamental particle physics. Dark solitons in matter waves are characterized by a local density minimum and a sharp phase gradient of the wavefunction at the position of the minimum.

We present the creation and experimental observation of dark solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates of ⁸⁷Rb. The soliton dynamics during and after the formation process is compared to theoretical results obtained by 3D numerical simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. A detailed investigation of the velocity field of the dark soliton was performed by Bragg spectroscopy. Preliminary results on the interaction of two counterpropagating solitons are presented.