title: Formation of a matter-wave bright soliton.
abstract: We report the production of matter-wave solitons in an ultracold lithium-7 gas. The effective interaction between atoms in a Bose-Einstein condensate is tuned with a Feshbach resonance from repulsive to attractive before release in a one-dimensional optical waveguide. Propagation of the soliton without dispersion over a macroscopic distance of 1.1 millimeter is observed. A simple theoretical model explains the stability region of the soliton. These matter-wave solitons open possibilities for future applications in coherent atom optics, atom interferometry, and atom transport.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris Cedex 05, France.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Khaykovich
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schreck
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ferrari
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Bourdel
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cubizolles
authors.forename: L D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Carr
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Castin
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Salomon