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Collapse and revival of the matter wave field of a Bose–Einstein condensate

Nature volume 419, pages 51–54 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

A Bose–Einstein condensate represents the most ‘classical’ form of a matter wave, just as an optical laser emits the most classical form of an electromagnetic wave. Nevertheless, the matter wave field has a quantized structure owing to the granularity of the discrete underlying atoms. Although such a field is usually assumed to be intrinsically stable (apart from incoherent loss processes), this is no longer true when the condensate is in a coherent superposition of different atom number states1,2,3,4,5,6. For example, in a Bose–Einstein condensate confined by a three-dimensional optical lattice, each potential well can be prepared in a coherent superposition of different atom number states, with constant relative phases between neighbouring lattice sites. It is then natural to ask how the individual matter wave fields and their relative phases evolve. Here we use such a set-up to investigate these questions experimentally, observing that the matter wave field of the Bose–Einstein condensate undergoes a periodic series of collapses and revivals; this behaviour is directly demonstrated in the dynamical evolution of the multiple matter wave interference pattern. We attribute the oscillations to the quantized structure of the matter wave field and the collisions between individual atoms.

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Figure 1: Quantum dynamics of a coherent state owing to cold collisions.
Figure 2: Dynamical evolution of the multiple matter wave interference pattern observed after jumping from a potential depth VA = 8 Er to a potential depth VB = 22 Er and a subsequent variable hold time t.
Figure 3: Number of coherent atoms relative to the total number of atoms monitored over time for the same experimental sequence as in Fig. 2.
Figure 4: Revival period in the dynamical evolution of the interference pattern after jumping to different potential depths VB from a potential depth of VA = 5.5 Er.
Figure 5: Influence of the atom number statistics on the collapse time.

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Acknowledgements

We thank W. Zwerger, T. Esslinger, A. Görlitz, H. Briegel, E. Wright and I. Cirac for discussions, and A. Altmeyer for help in the final stages of the experiment. This work was supported by the DFG.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sektion Physik, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Schellingstrasse 4/III, D-80799, Munich, Germany

    Markus Greiner, Olaf Mandel, Theodor W. Hänsch & Immanuel Bloch

  2. Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, D-85748, Garching, Germany

    Markus Greiner, Olaf Mandel, Theodor W. Hänsch & Immanuel Bloch

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  1. Markus Greiner
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Correspondence to Immanuel Bloch.

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Greiner, M., Mandel, O., Hänsch, T. et al. Collapse and revival of the matter wave field of a Bose–Einstein condensate. Nature 419, 51–54 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature00968

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