Atom Chip Diffraction of Bose-Einstein Condensates: The Role of Inter-Atomic Interactions
arXiv:0805.1817 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.78.053623
Abstract
We use supercomputer simulations to show that inter-atomic interactions can strongly affect the phase evolution of Bose-Einstein condensates that are diffracted from atom chips, thereby explaining recent experiments. Interactions broaden and depopulate non-central diffraction orders and so, counter-intuitively, they actually reduce the spatial width of the diffracted cloud. This means, more generally, that the experiments cannot be fully described by non-interacting theories and, consequently, interferometers that use many interacting atoms to enhance sensitivity require complex calibration. We identify device geometries required to approximate non-interacting behavior.
5 pages, 4 figures
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