Integrated coherent matter wave circuits

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the creation of integrated circuits for guiding and manipulating coherent matter waves, specifically Bose-Einstein condensates, using painted optical potentials for applications like atom interferometry and atomtronics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel painted potential technique to construct integrated matter wave circuits with key components like waveguides, switches, and beam splitters for the first time.

Findings

Successfully guided BECs around bends and through switches

Created phase-coherent beamsplitters and closed circuits

Demonstrated potential for complex matter wave circuitry

Abstract

An integrated coherent matter wave circuit is a single device, analogous to an integrated optical circuit, in which coherent de Broglie waves are created and then launched into waveguides where they can be switched, divided, recombined, and detected as they propagate. Applications of such circuits include guided atom interferometers, atomtronic circuits, and precisely controlled delivery of atoms. Here we report experiments demonstrating integrated circuits for guided coherent matter waves. The circuit elements are created with the painted potential technique, a form of time-averaged optical dipole potential in which a rapidly-moving, tightly-focused laser beam exerts forces on atoms through their electric polarizability. The source of coherent matter waves is a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). We launch BECs into painted waveguides that guide them around bends and form switches, phase coherent beamsplitters, and closed circuits. These are the basic elements that are needed to engineer arbitrarily complex matter wave circuitry.