Phase-Coherent Amplification of Matter Waves

TLDR

The active matter‑wave device demonstrated here has great potential in the fields of atom optics, atom lithography, and precision measurements. A small seed matter wave was created with coherent optical Bragg diffraction and amplified by using the initial condensate as a gain medium through the superradiance effect. Phase‑coherent matter‑wave amplification was demonstrated with Bose–Einstein–condensed rubidium‑87 atoms, and the amplified wave’s coherence was shown to be locked to that of the initial seed.

Abstract

Phase-coherent matter-wave amplification was demonstrated using Bose- Einstein–condensed rubidium-87 atoms. A small seed matter wave was created with coherent optical Bragg diffraction. Amplification of this seed matter wave was achieved by using the initial condensate as a gain medium through the superradiance effect. The coherence properties of the amplified matter wave, studied with a matter-wave interferometer, were shown to be locked to those of the initial seed wave. The active matter-wave device demonstrated here has great potential in the fields of atom optics, atom lithography, and precision measurements.