Three-Dimensional Anderson Localization in Variable Scale Disorder

W. R. McGehee, S. S. Kondov, W. Xu, J. J. Zirbel, and B. DeMarco
Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 145303 – Published 2 October 2013
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Abstract

We report on the impact of variable-scale disorder on 3D Anderson localization of a noninteracting ultracold atomic gas. A spin-polarized gas of fermionic atoms is localized by allowing it to expand in an optical speckle potential. Using a sudden quench of the localized density distribution, we verify that the density profile is representative of the underlying single-particle localized states. The geometric mean of the disordering potential correlation lengths is varied by a factor of 4 via adjusting the aperture of the speckle focusing lens. We observe that the root-mean-square size of the localized gas increases approximately linearly with the speckle correlation length, in qualitative agreement with the scaling predicted by weak scattering theory.

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  • Received 26 July 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.145303

© 2013 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

W. R. McGehee, S. S. Kondov, W. Xu, J. J. Zirbel*, and B. DeMarco

  • Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA

  • *Present address: AOSense, 767 North Mary Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94085, USA.
  • bdemarco@illinois.edu

Comments & Replies

Comment on “Three-Dimensional Anderson Localization in Variable Scale Disorder”

Cord A. Müller and Boris Shapiro
Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 099601 (2014)

McGehee et al. Reply

W. R. McGehee, S. S. Kondov, W. Xu, J. J. Zirbel, and B. DeMarco
Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 099602 (2014)

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Vol. 111, Iss. 14 — 4 October 2013

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