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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/N06168/01
Title: ATOM OPTICS WITH QUANTUM ACCELERATOR MODES
Principal Investigator: Summy, Dr G
Other Investigators:
Burnett, Professor K
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department: Oxford Physics
Organisation: University of Oxford
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 June 2000 Ends: 30 November 2001 Value (£): 50,186
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Light-Matter Interactions
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
The ability to coherently manipulate the momentum of an atom is crucial to the development of many technologies such as lithography, atom interferometry and the atom laser. We have recently demonstrated a new technique which can impart large amounts of momentum to an atom with great efficiency. Our method works by applying a series of pulses from an off-resonant standing light wave which is accelerating relative to the atoms. With this scheme an atom can exist in an accelerator mode . That is, with each standing wave pulse it accelerates by several photon recoils and has a high probability (>99%) to stay in the mode.This proposal outlines a work plan which will extend our knowledge of these accelerator modes. The initial phase involves refining our methods for controlling the momentum transfer and characterising the coherence of the technique. We can then move towards using the accelerator mode for coherent launching or building a new type of one-dimensional atom trap. Finally, we propose to use the considerable momentum transfer possible with an accelerator mode as part of the beamsplitting mechanism in a large area atom interferometer.
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Organisation Website: http://www.ox.ac.uk