corner
corner
APS » Journals » Phys. Rev. Lett. » Volume 80 » Issue 19
< Previous Article | Next Article >

Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 4111–4115 (1998)

Quantum Delta-Kicked Rotor: Experimental Observation of Decoherence

Download: PDF (128 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

H. Ammann, R. Gray, I. Shvarchuck*, and N. Christensen
Department of Physics, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand

Received 8 December 1997; published in the issue dated 11 May 1998

See accompanying Physics Focus

We report on the experimental observation of environment induced decoherence in the quantum delta-kicked rotor. Ultracold cesium atoms are subjected to a pulsed standing wave of near resonant light. Spontaneous scattering of photons destroys dynamical localization thereby giving rise to a quantum diffusion, which approaches the classical diffusion with an increasing degree of decoherence. This tendency is enhanced by a stronger stochasticity in the underlying classical system. A comparison with theoretical predictions is presented.

© 1998 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.4111
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.80.4111
PACS:
03.65.Bz, 05.45.+b, 42.50.Lc, 72.15.Rn

*Present address: FOM Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics, Kruislaan 407, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

 
< Previous Article | Next Article >