Time-Resolved Measurement of Landau-Zener Tunneling in Periodic Potentials

Year: 2009

Authors: Zenesini A., Lignier H., Tayebirad G., Radogostowicz J., Ciampini D., Mannella R., Wimberger S., Morsch O., Arimondo E.

Autors Affiliation: CNR, INFM, I-56127 Pisa, Italy;[ 2 ] Dipartimento Fis E Fermi, I-56127 Pisa, Italy; Univ Pisa, CNISM, I-56127 Pisa, Italy; Univ Heidelberg, Inst Theoret Phys, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany

Abstract: We report time-resolved measurements of Landau-Zener tunneling of Bose-Einstein condensates in accelerated optical lattices, clearly resolving the steplike time dependence of the band populations. Using different experimental protocols we were able to measure the tunneling probability both in the adiabatic and in the diabatic bases of the system. We also experimentally determine the contribution of the momentum width of the Bose condensates to the temporal width of the tunneling steps and discuss the implications for measuring the jump time in the Landau-Zener problem.

Journal/Review: PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

Volume: 103(9)      Pages from: 090403-1  to: 090403-4

KeyWords: Tunneling time; Bose Einstein condensate
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.090403