Cold atom ratchets

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• Ferruccio Renzoni (UCL)
• Monday 08 February 2010, 15:00-16:00
• Physics East 217.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Vincent Boyer.

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Brownian motors, or ratchets, are devices which ``rectify” Brownian motion, i.e. they can generate a current of particles out of unbiased fluctuations.

We experimentally implemented a Brownian motor using cold atoms in an optical lattice. This is quite an unusual system for a Brownian motor as there is no a real thermal bath, and both the periodic potential for the atoms and the fluctuations are determined by laser fields.

With the help of such a system, we investigated experimentally the relationship between symmetry and transport in a 1D rocking ratchet, both in the periodic and in the quasiperiodic case. We then went beyond 1D rocking ratchets, demonstrating 1D gating ratchets. We also realized 2D rocking ratchets and demonstrated a rectification mechanism unique to these high-dimensional ratchets. Stabilization mechanisms associated to ac transport are also discussed.

This talk is part of the Cold Atoms series.

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