An atomic Fabry–Perot interferometer using a pulsed interacting Bose–Einstein condensate

Abstract

AbstractWe numerically demonstrate atomic Fabry–Perot resonances for a pulsed interacting Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) source transmitting through double Gaussian barriers. These resonances are observable for an experimentally-feasible parameter choice, which we determined using a previously-developed analytical model for a plane matter-wave incident on a double rectangular barrier system. Through numerical simulations using the non-polynomial Schödinger equation—an effective one-dimensional Gross–Pitaevskii equation—we investigate the effect of atom number, scattering length, and BEC momentum width on the resonant transmission peaks. For $$^{85}$$ 85 Rb atomic sources with the current experimentally-achievable momentum width of $$0.02 \hbar k_0$$ 0.02 ħ k 0 [$$k_0 = 2\pi /(780~\text {nm})$$ k 0 = 2 π / ( 780 nm ) ], we show that reasonably high contrast Fabry–Perot resonant transmission peaks can be observed using (a) non-interacting BECs, (b) interacting BECs of $$5 \times 10^4$$ 5 × 10 4 atoms with s-wave scattering lengths $$a_s=\pm 0.1a_0$$ a s = ± 0.1 a 0 ($$a_0$$ a 0 is the Bohr radius), and (c) interacting BECs of $$10^3$$ 10 3 atoms with $$a_s=\pm 1.0a_0$$ a s = ± 1.0 a 0 . Our theoretical investigation impacts any future experimental realization of an atomic Fabry–Perot interferometer with an ultracold atomic source.