English

Hidden symmetry and nonlinear paraxial atom optics

Quantum Physics 2015-05-13 v3 Other Condensed Matter Quantum Gases Atomic Physics Optics

Abstract

A hidden symmetry of the nonlinear wave equation is exploited to analyse the propagation of paraxial and uniform atom-laser beams in time-independent, quadratic and cylindrical potentials varying smoothly along the propagation axis. The quality factor and the paraxial ABCD formalism are generalized to account exactly for mean-field interaction effects in such beams. Using an approach based on moments, these theoretical tools provide a very simple and yet exact picture of the interacting beam profile evolution. Guided atom laser experiments are discussed. This treatment addresses simultaneously optical and atomic beams in a unified manner, exploiting the formal analogy between nonlinear optics and nonlinear paraxial atom optics.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0904.0150,
  title  = {Hidden symmetry and nonlinear paraxial atom optics},
  author = {François Impens},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0904.0150},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

Final Version. Changes in the abstract and minor changes in the text with respect to the version published in PRA

R2 v1 2026-06-21T12:47:04.790Z