Experiments with Ultra-cold Atoms in an Optical Lattice with Dynamically Variable Lattice Constant

We have implemented a one-dimensional optical lattice whose periodicity may be dynamically varied with ultra-cold atoms in-situ. We have measured atom heating rates in the lattice as a function of lattice periodicity ramp velocities and profiles. We superimpose another one-dimensional lattice with fixed periodicity and measure atom diffraction as a function of the ratio of the two competing periodicities. Finally, we report interesting near field atomic diffraction results for extremely large periodicity lattices.