Dynamics and phase evolution of Bose-Einstein condensates in one-dimensional optical lattices

TL;DR

This paper experimentally investigates how Bose-Einstein condensates behave dynamically and how their phase evolves when placed in one-dimensional optical lattices, revealing phenomena like interference pattern revivals.

Contribution

It provides new experimental insights into the phase dynamics and expansion behavior of condensates in 1D optical lattices under different loading protocols.

Findings

Observation of interference pattern decays and revivals

Demonstration of condensate expansion in optical lattices

Analysis of phase evolution during non-adiabatic loading

Abstract

We report experimental results on the dynamics and phase evolution of Bose-Einstein condensates in 1D optical lattices. The dynamical behaviour is studied by adiabatically loading the condensate into the lattice and subsequently switching off the magnetic trap. In this case, the condensate is free to expand inside the periodic structure of the optical lattice. The phase evolution of the condensate, on the other hand, can be studied by non-adiabatically switching on the periodic potential. We observe decays and revivals of the interference pattern after a time-of-flight.