The onset of matter-wave amplification in a superradiant Bose-Einstein condensate.
The interaction of short and strong laser pulses with an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate is found to generate patterns of recoiling atoms that are different from those seen in previous light-scattering experiments. This phenomenon can only be explained by optical stimulation, showing that the previous description of superradiance as atomic stimulation is incomplete and that matter-wave amplification in Bose-Einstein condensates is suppressed at short times. Our experiments clarify the nature of bosonic stimulation in the four-wave mixing of light and atoms.
Schneble
Dominik
D
Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms, Research Laboratory of Electronics and Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. schneble@mit.edu
Torii
Yoshio
Y
Boyd
Micah
M
Streed
Erik W
EW
Pritchard
David E
DE
Ketterle
Wolfgang
W