title: Ultracold quantum gases in one-dimensional optical lattice potentials : nonlinear matter wave dynamics
creator: Anker, Thomas
subject: ddc-530
subject: 530 Physics
description: In this thesis I report on experiments on the quantum dynamics of matter waves in a onedimensional lattice potential. A 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensates is prepared in a one-dimensional waveguide in the lowest band of a superimposed optical lattice potential. The action of a weak lattice potential allows to modify the linear wave dispersion. We realized dispersion management by switching from normal to anomalous dispersion during the evolution. In this way the initial expansion of a wave packet is reversed to a compression and thus the effective spreading can be suppressed. By preparing a BEC at the Brillouin zone edge, we observed bright atomic gap solitons – non-spreading wave packets. They form, if the atom number and the lattice potential depth is tuned such that the effect of the repulsive atomic interaction and the anomalous dispersion cancel. For deep lattice potentials our system is described by a discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation, whose dynamics is determined by the tunneling between adjacent lattice sites and the nonlinear phase evolution. In the main part of this thesis I report on the first experimental observation of nonlinear self-trapping for matter waves. The transition from the diffusive regime, characterized by an continuous expansion of the condensate, to the self-trapping regime is accomplished by increasing the atomic density. Due to the corresponding increase of the repulsive atomic interaction the initial expansion stops and the width of the wave packet remains finite. The comparison with a numerical analysis reveals that the effect is due to an inhibition of the site-to-site tunneling induced by the nonlinear phase evolution.
date: 2005
type: Dissertation
type: info:eu-repo/semantics/doctoralThesis
type: NonPeerReviewed
format: application/pdf
identifier: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserverhttps://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/5915/1/Anker_Thesis.pdf
identifier: DOI:10.11588/heidok.00005915
identifier: urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-opus-59153
identifier:   Anker, Thomas  (2005) Ultracold quantum gases in one-dimensional optical lattice potentials : nonlinear matter wave dynamics.  [Dissertation]     
relation: https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/5915/
rights: info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights: http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/help/license_urhg.html
language: eng