We have performed experiments using a 3D-Bose-Einstein condensate of sodium atoms in a 1D optical lattice to explore some unusual properties of band-structure. In particular, we investigate the loading of a condensate into a moving lattice and find non-intuitive behavior. We also revisit the behavior of atoms, prepared in a single quasimomentum state, in an accelerating lattice. We generalize this study to a cloud whose atoms have a large quasimomentum spread, and show that the cloud behaves differently from atoms in a single Bloch state. Finally, we compare our findings with recent experiments performed with fermions in an optical lattice.
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0504606,
title = {Transport of atoms in a quantum conveyor belt},
author = {A. Browaeys and H. Haeffner and C. McKenzie and S. L. Rolston and K. Helmerson and W. D. Phillips},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0504606},
year = {2016}
}