Bose-Einstein condensate inside a Bragg-reflecting atom cavity

Abstract

We experimentally realize an atom cavity consisting of a magnetic trap and an optical lattice that extends over the whole trap. When displaced sufficiently from the center of the magnetic trap, dynamics of the atoms are characterized by magnetic confinement on one side of the cavity and Bragg reflection due to the optical lattice on the other side. We demonstrate this atom cavity by recording the momentum-space oscillation of a Bose-Einstein condensate inside the cavity as a function of time. This atom-cavity configuration presents the possibility of realizing a Mach-Zehnder-type atom interferometer.