2002/10/16 by H. Kreutzmann, A. Sanpera, Anna Sanpera +12 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1007/s00340-002-1074-6
9 pages, 7 figures
arxiv created 2002/10/16 · openalex publication_date 2003/02/01 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Quasi one dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) in elongated traps exhibit significant phase fluctuations even at very low temperatures. We present recent experimental results on the dynamic transformation of phase fluctuations into density modulations during time-of-flight and show the excellent quantitative agreement with the theoretical prediction. In addition we confirm that under our experimental conditions, in the magnetic trap density modulations are strongly suppressed even when the phase fluctuates. The paper also discusses our theoretical results on control of the condensate phase by employing a time-dependent perturbation. Our results set important limitations on future applications of BEC in precision atom interferometry and atom optics, but at the same time suggest pathways to overcome these limitations.