A slow gravity compensated Atom Laser

TL;DR

This paper presents a slow, guided atom laser with controllable acceleration, low residual acceleration, high flux, and narrow beam width, demonstrating its potential for precise continuous interferometry.

Contribution

It introduces a gravity-compensated, slow guided atom laser with unprecedented control over acceleration and beam quality, suitable for advanced interferometric applications.

Findings

Residual acceleration as low as 0.0027 g

Beam flux of 4.5 million atoms per second

Upper limit for beam width is 4.6 micrometers

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 4.5x10^6 atoms per second and due to transverse guiding we obtain an upper limit for the mean beam width of 4.6 \mu\m. 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.