Quantum Point Contacts for Neutral Atoms
- 8 November 1999
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 83 (19), 3762-3765
- https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.83.3762
Abstract
We show that the conductance of atoms through a tightly confining waveguide constriction is quantized in units of , where is the de Broglie wavelength of the incident atoms. Such a constriction forms the atom analog of an electron quantum point contact and is an example of quantum transport of neutral atoms in an aperiodic system. We present a practical constriction geometry that can be realized using a microfabricated magnetic waveguide, and discuss how a pair of such constrictions can be used to study the quantum statistics of weakly interacting gases in small traps.
Keywords
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