Generation of Macroscopic Pair-Correlated Atomic Beams by Four-Wave Mixing in Bose-Einstein Condensates

J. M. Vogels; K. Xu; W. Ketterle

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.020401

Generation of Macroscopic Pair-Correlated Atomic Beams by Four-Wave Mixing in Bose-Einstein Condensates

J. M. Vogels, K. Xu, and W. Ketterle

Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 020401 – Published 24 June 2002

Abstract

By colliding two Bose-Einstein condensates, we have observed strong bosonic stimulation of the elastic scattering process. When a weak input beam was applied as a seed, it was amplified by a factor of 20. This large gain atomic four-wave mixing resulted in the generation of two macroscopically occupied pair-correlated atomic beams.

Received 13 March 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.89.020401

Authors & Affiliations

J. M. Vogels, K. Xu, and W. Ketterle^*

Department of Physics, MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms,
Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139