Nov. 1st - Symposium Talk by William D. Phillips

Optics with laser-like atom waves

Abstract: Because of the deBroglie wave nature of atoms, many of the phenomena and techniques familiar in "photon" optics also appear in "atom" optics. These include diffraction, Bragg scattering, and interferometry. With the experimental achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation of atomic gases, we now have coherent atom sources for atom optics analogous to laser sources for photon optics. We have performed a number of wave-optics experiments using Bose condensates, including the first demonstrations of non-linear atom optics: four wave mixing of deBroglie waves.