Condensate Splitting in an Asymmetric Double Well for Atom Chip Based Sensors

Journal Article · Fri Jan 19 00:00:00 EST 2007 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.98.030402· OSTI ID:20861607

Hall, B V; Whitlock, S; Anderson, R; Hannaford, P; Sidorov, A I ^[1]

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1. ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum-Atom Optics and Centre for Atom Optics and Ultrafast Spectroscopy, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122 (Australia)

We report on the adiabatic splitting of a Bose-Einstein condensate of {sup 87}Rb atoms by an asymmetric double-well potential located above the edge of a perpendicularly magnetized TbGdFeCo film atom chip. By controlling the barrier height and double-well asymmetry, the sensitivity of the axial splitting process is investigated through observation of the fractional atom distribution between the left and right wells. This process constitutes a novel sensor for which we infer a single shot sensitivity to gravity fields of {delta}g/g{approx_equal}2x10{sup -4}. From a simple analytic model, we propose improvements to chip-based gravity detectors using this demonstrated methodology.

• OSTI ID: 20861607
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 98, Issue 3; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.030402; (c) 2007 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ASYMMETRY
ATOMS
BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATION
GRAVITATION
POTENTIALS
RUBIDIUM 87
SENSITIVITY