Related papers: Demonstration of a programmable optical lattice at…
We have studied the interference of degenerate quantum gases in a vertical optical lattice. The coherence of the atoms leads to an interference pattern when the atoms are released from the lattice. This has been shown for a Bose-Einstein…
By means of optimal control techniques we model and optimize the manipulation of the external quantum state (center-of-mass motion) of atoms trapped in adjustable optical potentials. We consider in detail the cases of both non interacting…
On the basis of a simple exactly solvable model we discuss the possibilities for state preparation and state control of atoms in a periodic optical potential. In addition to the periodic potential a uniform force with an arbitrary time…
Interferometry is a prime technique for modern precision measurements. Atoms, unlike light, have significant interactions with electric, magnetic, and gravitational fields, making their use in interferometric applications particularly…
We propose a scheme to realize lattice potentials of sub-wavelength spacing for ultracold atoms. It is based on spin-dependent optical lattices with a time-periodic modulation. We show that the atomic motion is well described by the…
In a cold atom gas subject to a 2D spin-dependent optical lattice potential with hexagonal symmetry, trapped atoms undergo orbital motion around the potential minima. Such atoms are elementary quantum rotors. We develop the theory of such…
Optical lattices formed by interfering laser beams are widely used to trap and manipulate atoms for quantum simulation, metrology, and computation. To stabilize optical lattices in experiments, it is usually challenging to implement…
We observe effects of collective atomic motion in a one-dimensional optical lattice coupled to an optomechanical system. In this hybrid atom-optomechanical system, the lattice light generates a coupling between the lattice atoms as well as…
Atom interferometers are powerful tools for both measurements in fundamental physics and inertial sensing applications. Their performance, however, has been limited by the available interrogation time of freely falling atoms in a…
We propose a method for measuring the temperature of fermionic atoms in an optical lattice potential from the intensity of the scattered light in the far-field diffraction pattern. We consider a single-component gas in a tightly-confined…
We study the means to prepare and coherently manipulate atomic wave packets in optical lattices, with particular emphasis on alkali atoms in the far-detuned limit. We derive a general, basis independent expression for the lattice operator,…
We study the propagation of cold-atom wave packets in an interferometer with a Mach-Zehnder topology based on the dynamical phase of Bloch oscillation in a weakly forced optical lattice with a narrow potential barrier that functions as a…
We propose a scheme to generate an arbitrary Abelian vector potential for atoms trapped in a two-dimensional optical lattice. By making the optical lattice potential dependent on the atomic state, we transform the problem into that of a…
We experimentally demonstrate two multidimensional atom interferometers capable of measuring both the magnitude and direction of applied inertial forces. These interferometers do not rely on the ubiquitous light-pulses of traditional atom…
We demonstrate programmable control over the spatial distribution of ultra-cold atoms confined in an optical lattice. The control is facilitated through a combination of spatial manipulation of the magneto-optical trap and atomic population…
We present a coherent filtering scheme which dramatically reduces the site occupation number defects for atoms in an optical lattice, by transferring a chosen number of atoms to a different internal state via adiabatic passage. With the…
Atomic sensors using light-matter interactions, in particular atomic clocks and atom interferometers, have the potential to complement optical gravitational-wave detectors in the mid-frequency regime. Although both rely on interference, the…
We provide a detailed analysis of our previously proposed scheme [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 180401, (2002)] to engineer the profile of the hopping amplitudes for atomic gases in a 1D optical lattice so that the particle number becomes…
A vortex in a superfluid gas inside an optical lattice can behave as a massive particle moving in a periodic potential and exhibiting quantum properties. In this Letter we discuss these properties and show that the excitation of vortex…
We overcome the diffraction limit in fluorescence imaging of neutral atoms in a sparsely filled one-dimensional optical lattice. At a periodicity of 433 nm, we reliably infer the separation of two atoms down to nearest neighbors. We observe…