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Science 27 November 1998:
Vol. 282. no. 5394, p. 1609
DOI: 10.1126/science.282.5394.1609d
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This Week in Science

Atoms can be cooled and trapped to a fraction of a degree above absolute zero to form an unusual state of matter, a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). Manipulation of the BEC can allow quantum effects to be observed macroscopically. Anderson and Kasevich (p. 1686; see the Perspective by Burnett) allowed a rubidium BEC to fall gravitationally through a periodic array of laser traps (standing waves). The trapped atoms tunnel coherently through all of these potential wells created by the laser standing waves at the same time. The interference of the tunneling atoms manifests itself as a train of phase-coherent atomic pulses. This behavior is effectively that of a mode-locked atom laser.




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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)