Berlin 2005 – scientific programme

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Q: Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 21: Poster Quanteneffekte

Q 21.11: Poster

Monday, March 7, 2005, 11:00–12:30, Poster HU

Tunneling of single atoms in a double well potential — •Elisabeth Kierig, Ralf Stützle, Thomas Hörner, and Markus K. Oberthaler — Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Universität Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 227, 69120 Heidelberg

One of the most intriguing phenomena in quantum mechanics is tunneling in a double well potential. Some time ago it was discovered that coherent driving of a bistable potential allows to suppress tunneling completely [1].

In our experimental setup we add the light shift potentials of two standing light waves with periodicity λ and λ/2 to create a periodic array of double well potentials. The coherent population of the double wells is achieved by a very well collimated metastable argon beam impinging perpendicularly onto the standing light waves. This allows to study the dynamics of a single atom in one double well by analyzing the diffraction pattern in the far field. The driving is realized in a straight forward manner by changing the relative phase between the two standing light waves.

The use of an additional standing light wave resonant with the open transition of metastable argon allows the preparation of a matter wave that is localized periodically only on one side of the double wells. This is an ideal initial condition for the observation of tunneling and suppression of tunneling.

[1] F. Grossmann, T. Dittrich, P. Jung, and P. Hänggi, Phys. Rev. Lett. 67, 516 (1991)