Synchronization of a Self-Sustained Cold Atom Oscillator

Abstract

Nonlinear oscillations and synchronisation phenomena are ubiquitous in nature. We study the synchronization of self oscillating magneto-optically trapped cold atoms to a weak external driving. The oscillations arise from a dynamical instability due the competition between the screened magneto-optical trapping force and the inter-atomic repulsion due to multiple scattering of light. A weak modulation of the trapping force allows the oscillations of the cloud to synchronize to the driving. The synchronization frequency range increases with the forcing amplitude. The corresponding Arnold tongue is experimentally measured and compared to theoretical predictions. Phase-locking between the oscillator and drive is also observed.

Corrected typos

References in corpus (5)

• Synchronization in complex networks
• Explosive synchronization in adaptive and multilayer networks
• Transient Uncoupling Induces Synchronization
• Behavior of a very large magneto-optical trap
• Synchronization dynamics in a designed open system

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Semiclassical Phase Reduction Theory for Quantum Synchronization
• Semiclassical optimization of entrainment stability and phase coherence in weakly forced quantum limit-cycle oscillators
• Enhancing quantum synchronization through homodyne measurement, noise and squeezing
• Three-dimensional simulations of spatiotemporal instabilities in a magneto-optical trap