Browsing by Author "Kurtsiefer, Christian"

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Open Access
Diffraction of atoms from optical potentials
(1994) Pfau, Tilman; Schnetz, Andreas; Adams, Charles S.; Kurtsiefer, Christian; Sigel, Martin; Mlynek, Jürgen
In the first part of this article we attempt to provide a very brief introduction to atom optics. In the second part we report on a recent experiment in our group on an atom-optical element that may be useful in atom interferometers and atom cavities: the demonstration of a new beam splitter based on the diffraction of atomic matter waves from a "magneto-optical grating".
Open Access
Interactions of atoms with a magneto-optical potential
(1993) Adams, Charles S.; Pfau, Tilman; Kurtsiefer, Christian; Mlynek, Jürgen
A theoretical study of the coherent interaction of multilevel atoms with a magneto-optical potential is presented. The potential is formed by counterpropagating linearly polarized laser beams whose polarization vectors intersect at an angle cphi and a static magnetic field applied parallel to the laser propagation direction. For a particular ratio of the light and magnetic field amplitudes, the light shift at positions of purely circularly polarized light is equal to the Zeeman splitting. In this case, for a three-level atom, one of the eigenvalues has a triangular spatial form. The diffraction of atoms from this triangular phase grating is an efficient beam splitter. The splitting is symmetric for cphi=90° and asymmetric for cphi<90°. In addition we show that at well-defined positions in the light field, the atom undergoes nonadiabatic transitions and thus by using state-selective detection, one could observe an interference pattern produced by an array of double slits.
Open Access
Loss of spatial coherence by a single spontaneous emission
(1994) Pfau, Tilman; Spälter, Stefan; Kurtsiefer, Christian; Ekstrom, Christopher R.; Mlynek, Jürgen
We have demonstrated the loss of transverse spatial coherence of an atomic wave function after a single spontaneous emission. He* atoms were both diffracted and excited by a standing light wave with a variable period. After the interaction, the excited atoms decay by a single spontaneously emitted photon. By changing the period of the standing light wave, we have mapped the loss of spatial coherence as a function of the transverse coordinate. By detecting the emitted photon one could "erase" the position information available and recover the transverse coherence in a correlation experiment, or realize a Heisenberg microscope.
Open Access
Magneto-optical beam splitter for atoms
(1993) Pfau, Tilman; Kurtsiefer, Christian; Adams, Charles S.; Sigel, Martin; Mlynek, Jürgen
We report an experimental demonstration of diffraction of He* atoms from a magneto-optical grating. The grating was produced by the interaction of three-level atoms with a light field of spatially varying polarization and a magnetic field. For a light shift matched to the Zeeman shift, a two-peaked diffraction pattern was observed, corresponding to a momentum splitting of 42ħk. The effect of changing the polarizations of the light field was investigated. The diffraction from the magneto-optical grating is compared directly with the diffraction of two-level atoms from a standing light wave and it is shown, that the magneto-optical interaction leads to more efficient coupling into high order momentum states.
Open Access
Optical elements for atoms : a beamsplitter and a mirror
(1993) Sigel, Martin; Pfau, Tilman; Adams, Charles S.; Kurtsiefer, Christian; Seifert, Werner; Heine, Claus; Mlynek, Jürgen; Kaiser, Robin; Aspect, Alain
In the first part of this article we attempt to provide a very brief introduction to atom optics. In the second and third part we report on recent experiments in our group on two specific atom-optical elements that may be useful in atom interferometers and atom cavities: the demonstration of a new beam splitter based on the diffraction of atomic matter waves from a "magneto-optical grating" and the investigation of a mirror based on the reflection of atoms from an evanescent light field.