Time-Resolved Measurement of Landau-Zener Tunneling in Periodic Potentials

Journal Article · Fri Aug 28 00:00:00 EDT 2009 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.103.090403· OSTI ID:21364635

Zenesini, A; Radogostowicz, J; Ciampini, D; Mannella, R; Arimondo, E ^[1]; Lignier, H; Morsch, O ^[1]; Tayebirad, G; Wimberger, S ^[2]

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1. CNR-INFM and Dipartimento di Fisica 'E. Fermi', Largo Pontecorvo 3, 56127 Pisa (Italy)
2. Institut fuer theoretische Physik, Universitaet Heidelberg, D-69120, Heidelberg (Germany)

We report time-resolved measurements of Landau-Zener tunneling of Bose-Einstein condensates in accelerated optical lattices, clearly resolving the steplike time dependence of the band populations. Using different experimental protocols we were able to measure the tunneling probability both in the adiabatic and in the diabatic bases of the system. We also experimentally determine the contribution of the momentum width of the Bose condensates to the temporal width of the tunneling steps and discuss the implications for measuring the jump time in the Landau-Zener problem.

• OSTI ID: 21364635
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 9; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.090403; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATION
PERIODICITY
PROBABILITY
TIME DEPENDENCE
TIME RESOLUTION
TUNNEL EFFECT
RESOLUTION
TIMING PROPERTIES
VARIATIONS