High-Contrast Interference in a Thermal Cloud of Atoms

TL;DR

This study demonstrates high-contrast interference in a thermal atomic cloud using Bragg diffraction, revealing coherence properties above the BEC transition and showing how momentum filtering enhances fringe visibility.

Contribution

It provides new insights into coherence in thermal gases and introduces a method to improve interference contrast through momentum filtering.

Findings

Fringe contrast exceeds 90% in thermal clouds.

Contrast decreases with increasing temperature.

Momentum filtering enhances interference contrast.

Abstract

The coherence properties of a gas of bosonic atoms above the BEC transition temperature were studied. Bragg diffraction was used to create two spatially separated wave packets, which interfere during expansion. Given sufficient expansion time, high fringe contrast could be observed in a cloud of arbitrary temperature. Fringe visibility greater than 90% was observed, which decreased with increasing temperature, in agreement with a simple model. When the sample was "filtered" in momentum space using long, velocity-selective Bragg pulses, the contrast was significantly enhanced in contrast to predictions.