Persistent flow in a toroidal BEC with a tunable barrier

ORAL

Abstract

We are investigating the stability of persistent flow in a toroidal BEC. The BEC is held in a red-detuned optical trap formed by two beams: a tightly focused ``sheet'' of light providing tight vertical confinement, and a Laguerre-Gaussian beam confining the BEC to a ring in the radial direction. To this trap we have added a blue-detuned light sheet to create a variable ``weak link'' in the ring. The geometry of this BEC system is analogous to that of a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). We will present results of our investigation of this system, and discuss prospects for realizing an atomic analog of a SQUID.

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Authors

  • Kevin Wright

    • Joint Quantum Institute UMD/NIST Gaithersburg
    • JQI, NIST, and U. of Maryland

  • Sergio Muniz

    • Joint Quantum Institute UMD/NIST Gaithersburg
    • JQI, NIST, and U. of Maryland

  • Anand Ramanathan

    • Joint Quantum Institute UMD/NIST Gaithersburg
    • JQI, NIST, and U. of Maryland

  • William Phillips

    • University of Maryland and NIST
    • JQI
    • JQI, NIST and The University of Maryland
    • JQI, NIST, and U. of Maryland

  • Gretchen Campbell

    • JQI, NIST, and U. of Maryland