화학공학소재연구정보센터
Science, Vol.275, No.5300, 637-641, 1997
Observation of Interference Between 2 Bose Condensates
Interference between two freely expanding Bose-Einstein condensates has been observed. Two condensates separated by similar to 40 micrometers were created by evaporatively cooling sodium atoms in a double-well potential formed by magnetic and optical forces. High-contrast matter-wave interference fringes with a period of similar to 15 micrometers were observed after switching off the potential and letting the condensates expand for 40 milliseconds and overlap. This demonstrates that Bose condensed atoms are "laser-like"; that is, they are coherent and show long-range correlations. These results have direct implications for the atom laser and the Josephson effect for atoms.