Stability of continuously pumped atom lasers.
A multimode model of a continuously pumped atom laser is shown to be unstable below a critical value of the scattering length. Above the critical scattering length, the atom laser reaches a steady state, the stability of which increases with pumping. Below this limit the laser does not reach a steady state. This instability results from the competition between gain and loss for the excited states of the lasing mode. It will determine a fundamental limit for the linewidth of an atom laser beam.
Haine
S A
SA
Department of Physics and Theoretical Physics, Australian National University, ACT 0200, Australia.
Hope
J J
JJ
Robins
N P
NP
Savage
C M
CM