Osnabrück 2002 – scientific programme

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PV: Plenarvorträge

PV IV

PV IV: Plenary Talk

Wednesday, March 6, 2002, 09:00–09:45, Stadthalle

Nonlinear atom optics — •Pierre Meystre — Optical Sciences Center, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA

Just as the invention of the laser lead to a profound revolution in optics and enabled the development of nonlinear and quantum optics, a similar revolution is taking place in atom optics now that experimentalists can almost routinely generate Bose-Einstein condensates. Bz extracting ”atom laser” beams from these condensates, it has become possible to carry out the first nonlinear atom optics experiments. The talk will review these developments in general terms, emphasizing the role of the electromagnetic field as a ”nonlinear medium” for atomic de Broglie waves. A number of examples, including matter-wave four-wave mixing, the mixing of optical and matter waves, and matter-wave amplification, will be presented. The talk will conclude with a general discussion of possible applications of nonlinear atom optics.