The dynamics of ultracold atoms in light-induced synthetic gauge fields

<p>A central aim of this research is to study the dynamics of ultracold atoms in synthetic gauge fields. In this work, we developed a method to optimize the evaporation of ultracold atoms to the Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) phase. We implement a model of atomic evaporation in a trapping potential, and we find optimal parameters for the trap depth and stiffness during evaporation. Using this model, we achieve a high efficiency of optical evaporation (γ_eff = 4.0).^ Using that BEC, we study the dynamics of the BEC in various light-induced synthetic gauge fields. In particular, we have studied the transition between adiabatic and diabatic transport in a spin-orbit (SO) coupled BEC, and found the behavior to be well understood by the Landau-Zener (LZ) theory. Various parameters of the SO coupled BEC were explored, and we demonstrated the ability to use such LZ transitions as the basis of an atomic transistor.^ Finally, we created a novel type of 3π spin-orbit coupling for ultracold atoms using modulated Raman coupling. Using the 3π SO coupling eigenlevel structure, we observed a Stueckelberg type interference of the BEC. We developed a model of Stueckelberg type interferometers, and we were able to quantitatively account for the observed interference fringes.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Physics

Year

2015

Author dc:creator

• Olson, Abraham J

Contributors dc:contributor

• Yong P. Chen
• Daniel S. Elliott
• Chris H. Greene
• Gabor A. Csathy

• Physics

Repository record dc:identifier

https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/528

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:docs.lib.purdue.edu:open_access_dissertations-1460