2003/03/31 by L. Fallani, F. S. Cataliotti, J. Catani +5 · 1 citation
Chemistry · Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Spectroscopy and Laser Applications #Strong Light-Matter Interactions #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.91.240405
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 240405 (2003) · 5 pages, 4 figures; minor changes applied and typos corrected; a new paragraph added; some references updated; journal reference added
openalex publication_date 2003/12/10 · arxiv created 2004/01/21 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We report the experimental observation of a lensing effect on a Bose-Einstein condensate expanding in a moving 1D optical lattice. The effect of the periodic potential can be described by an effective mass dependent on the condensate quasimomentum. By changing the velocity of the atoms in the frame of the optical lattice, we induce a focusing of the condensate along the lattice direction. The experimental results are compared with the numerical predictions of an effective 1D theoretical model. In addition, a precise band spectroscopy of the system is carried out by looking at the real-space propagation of the atomic wave packet in the optical lattice.