Talbot-Lau effect for atomic de Broglie waves manipulated with light

Journal Article · Thu Mar 31 23:00:00 EST 2005 · Physical Review. A

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.71.043612· OSTI ID:20653336

Turlapov, Andrey; Tonyushkin, Alexei; Sleator, Tycho ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, New York University, 4 Washington Place, New York, New York 10003 (United States)

We have demonstrated the Talbot-Lau effect for atomic de Broglie waves in the time domain. This effect is based on Fresnel diffraction of matter waves from an incoherent source. In the experiment, de Broglie waves of atoms in a particular internal state have been manipulated and the resulting density directly imaged by resonant optical fields. These experiments allow us to probe the quantum dynamics of the atomic center of mass. We have also used this effect to create patterns in the density of the atoms with period as small as 1/10 of the optical wavelength, demonstrating the potential application of this technique for atom nanofabrication.

• OSTI ID: 20653336
• Journal Information: Physical Review. A, Journal Name: Physical Review. A Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 71; ISSN 1050-2947; ISSN PLRAAN
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOMS
CENTER-OF-MASS SYSTEM
DENSITY
DIFFRACTION
MATTER
NANOSTRUCTURES
OPTICS
PHOTON-ATOM COLLISIONS
POTENTIALS
QUANTUM MECHANICS
VISIBLE RADIATION
WAVELENGTHS