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Collisions and scattering in ultracold atomic clouds

ORAL

Abstract

This presentation describes a combined experimental and theoretical study of quantum mechanical scattering between atoms in a dilute-gas Bose-Einstein condensate. We focus on condensates with high enough densities such that a very rich sequence of multiple scattering events has to be taken into account. In our experiments, we generate superposition of two different momentum states and image the resulting scattering effects in time-of-flight imaging. Scattering between particles in the same or in different spin states can be induced. The experiments are accompanied by theoretical studies that develop a model taking scattering cascades into account. A surprising complexity of the dynamics is revealed even in conceptually simple experimental configurations.

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Presenters

  • Annesh Mukhopadhyay

    Washington State University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-2814, USA

Authors

  • Annesh Mukhopadhyay

    Washington State University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-2814, USA

  • Md Kamrul Hoque Ome

    Washington State Univ, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-2814, USA

  • Sean Mossman

    Washington State Univ, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-2814, USA

  • Qingze Guan

    Univ of Oklahoma, Center for Quantum Research and Technology, The University of Oklahoma, 440 W. Brooks Street, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, USA

  • Doerte Blume

    University of Oklahoma, Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, Center for Quantum Research and Technology, University of Oklahoma, The University of Oklahoma, Center for Quantum Research and Technology, The University of Oklahoma, 440 W. Brooks Street, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, USA

  • Peter W Engels

    Washington State University, Washington State Univ, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 99164-2814, USA