Spontaneous photon emission stimulated by two Bose condensates

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that the phase difference between two overlapping Bose-Einstein condensates can control the spontaneous emission rate of excited atoms, enabling phase detection without external light fields.

Contribution

It introduces a novel optical method to detect condensate phase differences through spontaneous emission, avoiding the need for applied light fields.

Findings

Spontaneous emission rate varies with condensate phase difference.

Emission can be suppressed or enhanced depending on phase.

Method provides a new way to measure condensate phase coherence.

Abstract

We show that the phase difference of two overlapping ground state Bose-Einstein condensates can effect the optical spontaneous emission rate of excited atoms. Depending on the phase difference the atom stimulated spontaneous emission rate can vary between zero and the rate corresponding to all the ground state atoms in a single condensate. Besides giving control over spontaneous emission this provides an optical method for detecting the condensate phase difference. It differs from previous methods in that no light fields are applied. Instead the light is spontaneously emitted when excited atoms make a transition into either condensate.