The talk will be given by Ananya Sitaram.
Ultracold quantum gases are excellent platforms for quantum simulation and sensing. So far these gases have been produced using time-sequential cooling stages and after creation they unfortunately decay through unavoidable loss processes. This limits what can be done with them. For example it becomes impossible to extract a continuous-wave atom laser, which has promising applications for precision measurement through atom interferometry [1]. I will present how we achieve continuous Bose-Einstein condensation and create condensates (BECs) that persist in a steady-state for as long as we desire. Atom loss is compensated by feeding fresh atoms from a continuously replenished thermal source into the BEC by Bose-stimulated gain [2]. Our experiment is the matter wave analog of a cw optical laser with fully reflective cavity mirrors. The only step missing to create a continuous-wave atom laser beam is the addition of a coherent atom outcoupling mechanism. We are now using our new techniques also to tackle another challenge: the creation of continuously operating optical atomic clocks, in particular superradiant and zero-deadtime clocks [3,4,5,6]. These clocks offer new possibilities from fundamental science to real-world applications.
References
- N. P. Robins, P. A. Altin, J. E. Debs, and J. D. Close, Atom lasers: Production, properties and prospects for precision inertial measurement, Physics Reports 529, 265 (2013).
- C.-C. Chen, R. González Escudero, J. Minář, B. Pasquiou, S. Bennetts, and F. Schreck, Continuous Bose-Einstein condensation, Nature 606, 683 (2022).
- M. A. Norcia, M. N. Winchester, J. R. K. Cline, and J. K. Thompson, Superradiance on the millihertz linewidth strontium clock transition, Sci. Adv. 2, e1601231 (2016).
- J. Chen, Active Optical Clock, Chinese Science Bulletin 54, 348 (2009).
- D. Meiser, J. Ye, D. R. Carlson, M. J. Holland, Prospects for a Millihertz-Linewidth Laser, PRL 102, 163601 (2009).
- M. Schioppo et al., Ultrastable optical clock with two cold-atom ensembles, Nature Photonics 11, 48 (2017).
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Continuous Bose-Einstein condensation and continuously-operating optical clocks
The talk will be given by Ananya Sitaram. Ultracold quantum gases are excellent platforms for quantum simulation and sensing. So far these gases have been produced… (more)
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