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A slow gravity compensated atom laser

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Abstract

We report on a slow guided atom laser beam outcoupled from a Bose–Einstein condensate of 87Rb atoms in a hybrid trap. The acceleration of the atom laser beam can be controlled by compensating the gravitational acceleration and we reach residual accelerations as low as 0.0027 g. The outcoupling mechanism allows for the production of a constant flux of 4.5×106 atoms per second and due to transverse guiding we obtain an upper limit for the mean beam width of 4.6 μm. The transverse velocity spread is only 0.2 mm/s and thus an upper limit for the beam quality parameter is M 2=2.5. We demonstrate the potential of the long interrogation times available with this atom laser beam by measuring the trap frequency in a single measurement. The small beam width together with the long evolution and interrogation time makes this atom laser beam a promising tool for continuous interferometric measurements.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Quantenoptik, Leibniz Universität Hannover, Welfengarten 1, 30167, Hannover, Germany

    G. Kleine Büning, J. Will, W. Ertmer & C. Klempt

  2. QUANTOP, Danish National Research Foundation Center for Quantum Optics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120, 8000, Aarhus C, Denmark

    J. Arlt

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  1. G. Kleine Büning
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  2. J. Will
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  3. W. Ertmer
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  4. C. Klempt
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  5. J. Arlt
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Correspondence to G. Kleine Büning.

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Kleine Büning, G., Will, J., Ertmer, W. et al. A slow gravity compensated atom laser. Appl. Phys. B 100, 117–123 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-010-4078-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00340-010-4078-7

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