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Resonant coupling of a Bose-Einstein Condensate to a Michromechanical Oscillator

Fri, 2010-06-04 11:50 - Donatella Rosetti
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Date: 
2010-04-09
Reference: 

D. Hunger, S. Camerer, T. W. Hänsch, D. König, J. P. Kotthaus, J. Reichel, and P. Treutlein
Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 143002 (2010)

We report experiments in which the vibrations of a micromechanical oscillator are coupled to the motion of Bose-condensed atoms in a trap. The interaction relies on surface forces experienced by the atoms at about 1 _m distance from the mechanical structure. We observe resonant coupling to several well-resolved mechanical modes of the condensate. Coupling via surface forces does not require magnets, electrodes, or mirrors on the oscillator and could thus be employed to couple atoms to molecular-scale oscillators such as carbon nanotubes.