1. Beam quality of a nonideal atom laser
- Author
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M. Fauquembergue, Y. Le Coq, Philippe Bouyer, Alain Aspect, William Guerin, Vincent Josse, J.-F. Riou, laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique / Optique atomique, Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique (LCFIO), and Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut d'Optique Graduate School (IOGS)-Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut d'Optique Graduate School (IOGS)-Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)
- Subjects
Photon ,Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Physics::Optics ,General Physics and Astronomy ,01 natural sciences ,WKB approximation ,ABCD matrices ,Physics - Atomic Physics ,law.invention ,010309 optics ,law ,0103 physical sciences ,Physics::Atomic Physics ,010306 general physics ,Condensed Matter::Quantum Gases ,Physics ,[PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-ATOM-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atomic Physics [physics.atom-ph] ,Condensed Matter::Other ,interactions ,Laser ,Condensed Matter - Other Condensed Matter ,Atom laser ,Formalism (philosophy of mathematics) ,Transverse plane ,atom laser ,Fresnel-Kirshhoff ,[PHYS.COND.CM-GEN]Physics [physics]/Condensed Matter [cond-mat]/Other [cond-mat.other] ,Quantum electrodynamics ,Laser beam quality ,Atomic physics ,pacs: 03.75.Pp, 39.20.+q, 42.60.Jf,41.85.Ew ,M2 factor ,Bose–Einstein condensate ,Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other) - Abstract
International audience; We study the propagation of a non-interacting atom laser distorted by the strong lensing effect of the Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) from which it is outcoupled. We observe a transverse structure containing caustics that vary with the density within the residing BEC. Using WKB approximation, Fresnel-Kirchhoff integral formalism and ABCD matrices, we are able to describe analytically the atom laser propagation. This allows us to characterize the quality of the non-ideal atom laser beam by a generalized M$^2$ factor defined in analogy to photon lasers. Finally we measure this quality factor for different lensing effects.
- Published
- 2005
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