In-situ velocity imaging of ultracold atoms using slow--light

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel in-situ imaging technique for ultracold atoms that leverages slow-light effects to measure velocity fields, enabling detailed study of condensate dynamics.

Contribution

It presents a new slow-light based imaging scheme for ultracold atoms, allowing in-situ velocity field measurements of Bose-Einstein condensates.

Findings

Effective imaging of sloshing oscillations in condensates

Visualization of bent vortices in stirred BECs

Enhanced in-situ analysis of collective excitations

Abstract

The optical response of a moving medium suitably driven into a slow-light propagation regime strongly depends on its velocity. This effect can be used to devise a novel scheme for imaging ultraslow velocity fields. The scheme turns out to be particularly amenable to study in-situ the dynamics of collective and topological excitations of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. We illustrate the advantages of using slow-light imaging specifically for sloshing oscillations and bent vortices in a stirred condensate.