1. Space-borne Bose–Einstein condensation for precision interferometry
- Author
-
Hauke Müntinga, Jens Grosse, Wolfgang P. Schleich, Patrick Windpassinger, Klaus Sengstock, Wolfgang Ertmer, Tobias Franz, Hannes Duncker, Thijs Wendrich, Achim Peters, Vladimir Schkolnik, Dennis Becker, Anja Kohfeldt, Claus Lämmerzahl, Eric Charron, Benjamin Weps, Robin Corgier, Maik Erbe, Waldemar Herr, André Kubelka-Lange, Naceur Gaaloul, Ortwin Hellmig, Stephan Seidel, Manuel Popp, Maike D. Lachmann, Aline N. Dinkelaker, Claus Braxmaier, Reinhold Walser, Andreas Wicht, André Wenzlawski, Daniel Lüdtke, Holger Ahlers, Markus Krutzik, Ernst M. Rasel, and Sirine Amri
- Subjects
Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph) ,FOS: Physical sciences ,Space (mathematics) ,01 natural sciences ,Physics - Atomic Physics ,law.invention ,010309 optics ,law ,Laser cooling ,0103 physical sciences ,Astronomical interferometer ,010306 general physics ,Quantum ,Condensed Matter::Quantum Gases ,Physics ,Multidisciplinary ,Bragg's law ,interferometry ,Bose-Einstein ,Computational physics ,Interferometry ,Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas) ,Quasiparticle ,Atomic physics ,Condensed Matter - Quantum Gases ,Bose–Einstein condensate - Abstract
Space offers virtually unlimited free-fall in gravity. Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) enables ineffable low kinetic energies corresponding to pico- or even femtokelvins. The combination of both features makes atom interferometers with unprecedented sensitivity for inertial forces possible and opens a new era for quantum gas experiments. On January 23, 2017, we created Bose-Einstein condensates in space on the sounding rocket mission MAIUS-1 and conducted 110 experiments central to matter-wave interferometry. In particular, we have explored laser cooling and trapping in the presence of large accelerations as experienced during launch, and have studied the evolution, manipulation and interferometry employing Bragg scattering of BECs during the six-minute space flight. In this letter, we focus on the phase transition and the collective dynamics of BECs, whose impact is magnified by the extended free-fall time. Our experiments demonstrate a high reproducibility of the manipulation of BECs on the atom chip reflecting the exquisite control features and the robustness of our experiment. These properties are crucial to novel protocols for creating quantum matter with designed collective excitations at the lowest kinetic energy scales close to femtokelvins., 6 pages, 4 figures
- Published
- 2018