Hamburg 2009 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 35: Quanteneffekte: QED / Interferenz und Korrelationen I
Q 35.6: Talk
Wednesday, March 4, 2009, 15:15–15:30, VMP 6 HS-E
Momentum-space interferometry with trapped ultracold atoms — •Andreas Ruschhaupt1, Adolfo del Campo2, and J. Gonzalo Muga3 — 1Institut für Mathematische Physik, TU Braunschweig, Mendelssohnstrasse 3, 38106 Braunschweig — 2Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Imperial College London, SW7 2PE, UK — 3Departamento de Quimica-Fisica, Universidad del Pais Vasco, Apartado 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain
Quantum interferometers are generally set so that phase differences between paths in coordinate space combine constructive or destructively. Indeed, the interfering paths can also meet in momentum space leading to momentum-space fringes. We propose and analyze a method to produce interference in momentum space by phase-imprinting part of a trapped atomic cloud with a detuned laser. For one-particle wave functions analytical expressions are found for the fringe width and shift versus the phase imprinted. The effects of unsharpness or displacement of the phase jump are also studied, as well as many-body effects to determine the potential applicability of momentum-space interferometry.
Reference: arXiv:0810.1720