Phase dynamics in a binary-collisions atom laser scheme

TL;DR

This paper investigates the phase dynamics of a binary-collision atom laser, providing analytical estimates of linewidths, evaluating achievable linewidths in a recent scheme, and exploring phase coherence between two atom lasers.

Contribution

It offers new analytical insights into how elastic collisions affect atom laser linewidths and phase coherence, extending understanding of atom laser stability and coherence properties.

Findings

Elastic collisions influence laser linewidths significantly.

Achievable linewidths are quantified for a specific atom laser scheme.

The phase coherence between two atom lasers can be established and characterized.

Abstract

Various aspects of the phase dynamics of an atom laser scheme based on binary collisions are investigated. Analytical estimates of the influence of elastic atom-atom collisions on the laser linewidth are given, and linewidths achievable in a recently proposed atom laser scheme [Phys. Rev. A 56, 2989 (1997)] are evaluated explicitly. The extent to which a relative phase can be established between two interfering atom lasers, as well as the properties of that phase, are also investigated.