| Issue |
EPL
Volume 89, Number 1, January 2010
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | 10002 | |
| Number of page(s) | 5 | |
| Section | General | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/89/10002 | |
| Published online | 05 January 2010 | |
A quantum trampoline for ultra-cold atoms
1
Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique, Univ Paris Sud, CNRS, campus polytechnique RD128 91127 Palaiseau, France, EU
2
SYRTE, Observatoire de Paris, CNRS, UPMC - 61 avenue de l'Observatoire, 75014 Paris, France, EU
Corresponding author: thomas.bourdel@institutoptique.fr
Received:
30
October
2009
Accepted:
3
December
2009
We have observed the interferometric suspension of a free-falling Bose-Einstein condensate periodically submitted to multiple-order diffraction by a vertical 1D standing wave. This scheme permits simultaneously the compensation of gravity and coherent splitting/recombination of the matter waves. It results in high-contrast interference in the number of atoms detected at constant height. For long suspension times, multiple-wave interference is revealed through a sharpening of the fringes. We characterize our atom interferometer and use it to measure the acceleration of gravity.
PACS: 03.75.Dg – Atom and neutron interferometry / 06.30.Gv – Velocity, acceleration, and rotation / 05.60.Gg – Quantum transport
© EPLA, 2010
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