Low velocity quantum reflection of Bose-Einstein condensates.
We study how interactions affect the quantum reflection of Bose-Einstein condensates. A patterned silicon surface with a square array of pillars resulted in high reflection probabilities. For incident velocities greater than 2.5 mm/s, our observations agreed with single-particle theory. At velocities below 2.5 mm/s, the measured reflection probability saturated near 60% rather than increasing towards unity as predicted by the accepted theoretical model. We extend the theory of quantum reflection to account for the mean-field interactions of a condensate which suppresses quantum reflection at low velocity. The reflected condensates show collective excitations as recently predicted.
Pasquini
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TA
Department of Physics, MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms, and Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
Saba
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M
Jo
G-B
GB
Shin
Y
Y
Ketterle
W
W
Pritchard
D E
DE
Savas
T A
TA
Mulders
N
N