2007/03/31 by G. -B. Jo, J. -H. Choi, C. A. Christensen +4 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #cond-mat.other
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.98.180401
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 180401 (2007) · 5 pages, 4 figures
arxiv created 2007/05/19 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
The recombination of two split Bose-Einstein condensates on an atom chip is shown to result in heating which depends on the relative phase of the two condensates. This heating reduces the number of condensate atoms between 10 and 40% and provides a robust way to read out the phase of an atom interferometer without the need for ballistic expansion. The heating may be caused by the dissipation of dark solitons created during the merging of the condensates.