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Q: Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 17: Teilchenoptik
Q 17.3: Talk
Tuesday, March 23, 2004, 11:30–11:45, HS 224
Atomic waveguides with periodic structures: the role of quantum reflection — •Helge Kreutzmann1, Anna Sanpera1, Gerhard Birkl2, Maciej Lewenstein1, and Wolfgang Ertmer2 — 1Institut für theoretische Physik, Universität Hannover, Germany — 2Institut für Quantenoptik, Universität Hannover, Germany
The trapping and guiding properties of atom waveguides permit an unprecedent precision in the manipulation of cold ensembles of atoms as well as coherent BEC samples. Nowadays, new ideas originally emerging from the field of optics are investigated in the area of ultra-cold gases. Here, we study the role of quantum reflections when an ultra-cold atomic wave-packet enters and propagates inside a quasi one-dimensional atom waveguide with a periodic structure [1,2,3]. The periodicity of the waveguide leads to a Bloch-band energy structure and strongly modifies the propagation of the ultra-cold atom ensemble inside the guide. One focus of our study are the conditions for which total reflection due to quantum interferences of the atom ensemble can be achieved and possible applications arising from it. We also discuss the effects of the transversal confinement within the waveguide.
[1] Friedman et al, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 15, 1749 (1998).
[2] G. Grynberg et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 2249 (1993) .
[3] G. Birkl et. al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 2823 (1995) .