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Long Phase Coherence Time and Number Squeezing of Two Bose-Einstein Condensates on an Atom Chip

, , , , , , , , and . Physical Review Letters, 98 (3): 030407+ (January 2007)
DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.98.030407

Abstract

We measure the relative phase of two Bose-Einstein condensates confined in a radio frequency induced double-well potential on an atom chip. We observe phase coherence between the separated condensates for times up to ∼200  ms after splitting, a factor of 10 longer than the phase diffusion time expected for a coherent state for our experimental conditions. The enhanced coherence time is attributed to number squeezing of the initial state by a factor of 10. In addition, we demonstrate a rotationally sensitive (Sagnac) geometry for a guided atom interferometer by propagating the split condensates.

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