Here it is demonstrated that nanofabricated structures can be used as electron optical elements in new types of electron interferometers. This enables novel investigations with electrons analogous to experiments in light and atom optics. Far field diffraction from a single nanograting is used to examine the force on a charge moving in close proximity to a surface. Near field diffraction from the nanograting is investigated in a Talbot interferometer. It is found that electron waves form replicas of the grating in free space, and these replicas can be de-magnified using illumination by a converging beam. An electron Lau interferometer has the same grating configuration as the Talbot interferometer, but uses spatially incoherent beams that give rise to drastically different interference behavior. A single optical theory is developed to efficiently model a variety of grating interferometers under a diverse set of illumination conditions, and it is used to understand the experiments described here. Applications for these new interferometers are discussed, as well as possible directions for future research.

An apparatus for producing atomic-gas Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) of 87-Rb atoms is described. The apparatus produces 87-Rb BECs in a dual-chamber vacuumsystem that incorporates magnetic transport of trapped atoms from the magneto-optical trapping cell to the BEC production cell via the operation of a series of overlapping magnet coils. The design, construction, and operation of the apparatus are described in detail.The apparatus is used to study the creation of quantized vortices in BECs by the merging and interference of multiple trapped condensates. In this experiment, a single harmonic potential well is partitioned into three sections by an optical barrier,enabling the simultaneous formation of three independent, uncorrelated BECs. The BECs may either merge together during their growth, or, for high-energy barriers, the BECs can be merged together by barrier removal after their formation. Either process may instigate vortex formation in the resulting BEC, depending on the initially indeterminate relative phases of the condensates and the merging rate.

No description available.

Dans cette thèse, nous étudions le transport quantique d’ondes de matière avec des atomes ultrafroids. Ces systèmes d’atomes ultrafroids fournissent un très bon contrôle et une grande flexibilité pour les paramètres du système tels que les interactions, sa dimensionnalité et les potentiels externes. Cela les rend un excellent outil pour l’étude de plusieurs concepts fondamentaux de la physique de la matière condensée. Nous nous concentrons sur le transport quantique dans les milieux désordonnés. Il diffère du transport classique par le rôle fondamental joué par les phénomènes d’inférence, qui peuvent éventuellement conduire à la suppression du transport; connu comme la Localisation d’Anderson. Nous étudions l’expansion d’un condensat de Bose-Einstein dans un désordre fort et montrons des signes de localisation d’atomes ultrafroids à trois dimensions. Dans la dernière partie de ce manuscrit, nous discutons l’observation de la rétrodiffusion cohérente d’atomes ultrafroids, ce qui est un signal direct du rôle de la cohérence quantique dans le transport quantique dans les milieux désordonnés. Nous observons l’évolution temporelle de la distribution d’impulsions d’un nuage de atomes ultrafroids, lancé avec une distribution de vitesse étroite dans un potentiel désordonné. Un pic émerge dans le sens rétrograde, correspondant au signal de CBS. / In this thesis we study the quantum transport of matter waves with ultracold atoms. Such ultracold atom systems provide a very good control and a high flexibility of the parameters of the systems like the interactions, its dimensionality and the external potentials. This makes them a great tool for the investigation of several fundamental concepts of condensed matter physics. We focus on the quantum transport in disordered media. It differs to classical transport by the fundamental role played by inference phenomena, which can eventually lead to the suppression of transport; known as Anderson Localization. Observing the expansion of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a strong light disorder, we show evidence for Localization of ultracold atoms in three dimensions. In the last part of this manuscript we discuss the observation of Coherent Backscattering of ultracold atoms, which is a direct signal of the role of quantum coherence in quantum transport in disordered media. We observe the time evolution of the momentum distribution of a cloud of ultra-cold atoms, launched with a narrow velocity distribution in a disordered potential. A peak emerges in the backwards direction, corresponding to the CBS signal.

Condensados de Bose-Einstein (BEC) são sistemas macroscópicos excelentes para a observação do comportamento quântico da matéria. Desde sua obtenção experimental em gases atômicos alcalinos diluídos aprisionados por campos magnéticos, há importantes aspectos relacionados a esse sistema que foram intensamente explorados, como os modos coletivos do BEC harmonicamente aprisionado, seu tunelamento através de barreiras de potencial e os estados excitados desse sistema, incluindo vórtice e sóliton. O último consiste de pacote de onda localizado, que propaga sem mudança de forma. Nesse trabalho, investigamos os novos aspectos que surgem da dinâmica de um sistema composto (condensado aprisionado contendo um sóliton). Há muitos estudos tratando cada parte separadamente: estado fundamental do BEC ou um sóliton em um BEC infinito uniforme estacionário. Estamos nos baseando nessas análises prévias, além da simulação numérica de campo médio do nosso sistema submetido a diferentes condições iniciais (BEC aprisionado no mínimo do potencial harmônico ou BEC deslocado na armadilha contendo um sóliton, além de uma deformação no potencial) para caracterizar a dinâmica desse sistema. Alguns dos nossos resultados puderam ser explicados por meio de predições analítica da chamada aproximação de Thomas-Fermi. Ao final, comparamos as simulações de campo médio (equação de Gross-Pitaevskii) com as advindas da teoria de múltiplos orbitais a fim de justificar o regime de validade da nossa teoria. / Bose-Einstein Condensates (BEC) are excellent macroscopic systems to observe the quantum behavior of matter. Since it experimental production in dilute atomic alkali gases trapped by magnetic fields, there are important aspects related to this system that have been intensely explored, like the collective modes of the harmonically trapped BEC, its tunneling through a potential barrier and the excited states of this system, that include the vortex and soliton. The latter consist of localized disturbances, which propagate without change of form. In this work, we investigate the singular aspects that coming from the dynamics of a composite system (trapped BEC containing a soliton). There are many studies that treat each part separately, that include a fundamental state BEC or a soliton inside a uniform infinite extent stationary BEC. We are basing on these previous analyses, besides mean-field numeric simulating our particular system submitted to diferent initial conditions (minimum harmonic potential trapped BEC or dislocated trapped BEC plus a soliton, in addition to a deformation in the potential) to characterize the tunneling dynamics. Some of our results could be explained using analytical predictions of the so called Thomas-Fermi approximation. At the end, we compar the meanfield simulations (Gross-Pitavskii equation) with the simulations from the multiple orbitals theory to justify the validity regime of our theory.

Condensados de Bose-Einstein (BEC) são sistemas macroscópicos excelentes para a observação do comportamento quântico da matéria. Desde sua obtenção experimental em gases atômicos alcalinos diluídos aprisionados por campos magnéticos, há importantes aspectos relacionados a esse sistema que foram intensamente explorados, como os modos coletivos do BEC harmonicamente aprisionado, seu tunelamento através de barreiras de potencial e os estados excitados desse sistema, incluindo vórtice e sóliton. O último consiste de pacote de onda localizado, que propaga sem mudança de forma. Nesse trabalho, investigamos os novos aspectos que surgem da dinâmica de um sistema composto (condensado aprisionado contendo um sóliton). Há muitos estudos tratando cada parte separadamente: estado fundamental do BEC ou um sóliton em um BEC infinito uniforme estacionário. Estamos nos baseando nessas análises prévias, além da simulação numérica de campo médio do nosso sistema submetido a diferentes condições iniciais (BEC aprisionado no mínimo do potencial harmônico ou BEC deslocado na armadilha contendo um sóliton, além de uma deformação no potencial) para caracterizar a dinâmica desse sistema. Alguns dos nossos resultados puderam ser explicados por meio de predições analítica da chamada aproximação de Thomas-Fermi. Ao final, comparamos as simulações de campo médio (equação de Gross-Pitaevskii) com as advindas da teoria de múltiplos orbitais a fim de justificar o regime de validade da nossa teoria. / Bose-Einstein Condensates (BEC) are excellent macroscopic systems to observe the quantum behavior of matter. Since it experimental production in dilute atomic alkali gases trapped by magnetic fields, there are important aspects related to this system that have been intensely explored, like the collective modes of the harmonically trapped BEC, its tunneling through a potential barrier and the excited states of this system, that include the vortex and soliton. The latter consist of localized disturbances, which propagate without change of form. In this work, we investigate the singular aspects that coming from the dynamics of a composite system (trapped BEC containing a soliton). There are many studies that treat each part separately, that include a fundamental state BEC or a soliton inside a uniform infinite extent stationary BEC. We are basing on these previous analyses, besides mean-field numeric simulating our particular system submitted to diferent initial conditions (minimum harmonic potential trapped BEC or dislocated trapped BEC plus a soliton, in addition to a deformation in the potential) to characterize the tunneling dynamics. Some of our results could be explained using analytical predictions of the so called Thomas-Fermi approximation. At the end, we compar the meanfield simulations (Gross-Pitavskii equation) with the simulations from the multiple orbitals theory to justify the validity regime of our theory.

Dans la première partie de ce travail de thèse, on a étudié les causes d'anomalie de pesanteur, et plusieurs causes de bruit afin d'en tirer des conclusions sur la faisabilité de certaines applications industrielles qui impliqueraient notamment l'utilisation de gravimètres ou de gradiomètres embarqués. On envisage en particulier la possibilité de constituer un système de prévention des collisions pour la navigation sous-marine, d'utiliser un gravimètre pour détecter des cavités enfouies ou encore d'observer l'anomalie de pesanteur créée par le passage d'une vague de tsunami d'une part, et d'autre part on cherche autant que possible à quantifier en spectre de puissance les bruits classiques rencontrés en gravimétrie embarquée, ainsi que le bruit gravitationnel causé par les vagues. Dans la seconde partie, on décrit la réalisation d'un gravimètre à ondes de matière, qui aura la particularité d'utiliser des atomes piégés au voisinage d'une puce en carbure de silicium. Le développement des gravimètres à ondes de matière est en effet extrêmement prometteur en terme d'exactitude de mesure du champ de pesanteur, mais le principe de réalisation utilisé jusqu'à maintenant implique que la sensibilité limite de l'instrument est proportionnelle à sa taille. D'un autre côté depuis une dizaine d'années des puces constituées de fils conducteurs déposés sur un substrat en silicium ont été développées pour le piégeage et le refroidissement d'atomes. L'utilisation d'une puce à atomes devra permettre de démontrer la possibilité de mesurer le champ de pesanteur avec une sensibilité indépendante de la taille de l'instrument, ce qui mènera à la réalisation d'un gravimètre à atomes froids compact, donc potentiellement utilisable dans un véhicule. Le défi de ce démonstrateur est d'effectuer pour la première fois la séparation spatiale cohérente d'un nuage d'atomes sur une puce atomique, à des fins de métrologie / In the first part of this work causes of gravity anomalies are studied, along with causes of noise. The feasibilities of a few industrial applications involving mobile gravity or gravity gradient meters were hence evaluated. These applications include in particular the realization of a collision avoidance device for underwater navigation, detection of underground void spaces and tsunami wave detection. Classical noises encountered in on-board gravity measurements are studied, as well as the less conventional gravity noise caused by ocean waves. The second part of the work is devoted to the implementation of a matter waves interferometry gravimeter. The particularity of the device is to use atoms trapped in the vicinity of a silicon carbide atom chip. The goal of the project is to reach for the measurement accuracies of current matter waves gravimeters with free falling atoms, with a principle that does not imply a proportionality between the size of the device and its sensitivity limit. We hope to demonstrate a proof of concept that may lead to a new generation of atomic gravimeters that are compact and therefore better suited for mobile uses. Coherent splitting of a non-condensed atom cloud for metrology purposes is probably the main challenge of the project

In this thesis, we present the generation and studies of a 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) perturbed by an oscillatory excitation. The atoms are trapped in a harmonic magnetic trap where, after an evaporative cooling process, we produce the BEC. In order to study the effect caused by oscillatory excitations, a quadrupole magnetic field time oscillatory is superimposed to the trapping potential. Through this perturbation, collective modes were observed. The dipole mode is excited even for low excitation amplitudes. However, a minimum excitation energy is needed to excite the condensate quadrupole mode. Observing the excited cloud in TOF expansion, we note that for excitation amplitude in which the quadrupole mode is excited, the cloud expands without invert its aspect ratio. By looking these clouds, after long time-of-flight, it was possible to see vortices and, sometimes, a turbulent state in the condensed cloud. We calculated the momentum distribution of the perturbed BECs and a power law behavior, like the law to Kolmogorov turbulence, was observed. Furthermore, we show that using the method that we have developed to calculate the momentum distribution, the distribution curve (including the power law exponent) exhibits a dependence on the quadrupole mode oscillation of the cloud. The randomness distribution of peaks and depletions in density distribution image of an expanded turbulent BEC, remind us to the intensity profile of a speckle light beam. The analogy between matter-wave speckle and light speckle is justified by showing the similarities in the spatial propagation (or time expansion) of the waves. In addition, the second order correlation function is evaluated and the same dependence with distance was observed for the both waves. This creates the possibility to understand the properties of quantum matter in a disordered state. The propagation of a three-dimensional speckle field (as the matter-wave speckle described here) creates an opportunity to investigate the speckle phenomenon existing in dimensions higher than 2D (the case of light speckle). / Nesta tese, descrevemos a produção e os estudos de condensados de Bose-Einstein, em átomos de 87Rb, perturbados através de excitações oscilatórias. Os átomos aprisionados são aprisionados em uma armadilha magnética harmônica onde produzimos o condensado de Bose-Einstein após o processo de resfriamento evaporativo. Com o objetivo de estudar o efeito de excitações oscilatórias, um campo magnético quadrupolar temporalmente oscilanteé superposto ao campo de aprisionamento. Através dessa perturbação, podemos observar a excitação de modos coletivos no condensado. Mesmo para baixas amplitudes de excitação, o modo dipolar é facilmente excitado. Porém, observamos que para excitar o modo quadrupolar no condensado é necessária uma energia mínima. Através da expansão em tempo de voo da nuvem excitada, identificamos que, para amplitude de excitação na quail o modo quadrupolar é excitado, a nuvem expande sem inverter o aspect ratio. Analisando essas nuvens por longos tempos de voo, foi possível observar alguns vórtices e, às vezes, um estado turbulento na nuvem condensada. Calculamos a distribuição de momento dessas nuvens e notamos que ela exibe um comportamento de lei de potência, parecido com a lei de Kolmogorov para turbulência. Além disso, mostramos que pelo nosso método que desenvolvemos para calcular a distribuição de momento, a forma da curva dessa distribuição (inclusive o expoente da lei de potência) exibe uma dependência com o modo quadrupolar de oscilação da nuvem. A distribuição desordenada de picos e depleções, na imagem da distribuição de densidade do condensado turbulento expandido, assemelha-se ao perfil de intensidade de um feixe de luz com speckle. A analogia entre speckle de onda de matéria e de luz é fundamentada através das semelhanças entre a propagação (ou expansão) dessas duas ondas. Além disso, a função de correlação de segunda ordem foi calculada e a mesma dependência com a distância foi observada para as duas ondas. Isto cria a possibilidade de entender melhor as propriedades da matéria quântica em um estado de desordem. A propagação de um campo de speckle tridimensional (como é o caso do speckle de onda de matéria aqui descrito) cria uma oportunidade de investigar o fenômeno de speckle em dimensões maiores que 2D (o caso do speckle de luz).

In this thesis we study the quantum transport of matter waves with ultracold atoms. Such ultracold atom systems provide a very good control and a high flexibility of the parameters of the systems like the interactions, its dimensionality and the external potentials. This makes them a great tool for the investigation of several fundamental concepts of condensed matter physics. We focus on the quantum transport in disordered media. It differs to classical transport by the fundamental role played by inference phenomena, which can eventually lead to the suppression of transport; known as Anderson Localization. Observing the expansion of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a strong light disorder, we show evidence for Localization of ultracold atoms in three dimensions. In the last part of this manuscript we discuss the observation of Coherent Backscattering of ultracold atoms, which is a direct signal of the role of quantum coherence in quantum transport in disordered media. We observe the time evolution of the momentum distribution of a cloud of ultra-cold atoms, launched with a narrow velocity distribution in a disordered potential. A peak emerges in the backwards direction, corresponding to the CBS signal.

In this thesis, we present the generation and studies of a 87Rb Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) perturbed by an oscillatory excitation. The atoms are trapped in a harmonic magnetic trap where, after an evaporative cooling process, we produce the BEC. In order to study the effect caused by oscillatory excitations, a quadrupole magnetic field time oscillatory is superimposed to the trapping potential. Through this perturbation, collective modes were observed. The dipole mode is excited even for low excitation amplitudes. However, a minimum excitation energy is needed to excite the condensate quadrupole mode. Observing the excited cloud in TOF expansion, we note that for excitation amplitude in which the quadrupole mode is excited, the cloud expands without invert its aspect ratio. By looking these clouds, after long time-of-flight, it was possible to see vortices and, sometimes, a turbulent state in the condensed cloud. We calculated the momentum distribution of the perturbed BECs and a power law behavior, like the law to Kolmogorov turbulence, was observed. Furthermore, we show that using the method that we have developed to calculate the momentum distribution, the distribution curve (including the power law exponent) exhibits a dependence on the quadrupole mode oscillation of the cloud. The randomness distribution of peaks and depletions in density distribution image of an expanded turbulent BEC, remind us to the intensity profile of a speckle light beam. The analogy between matter-wave speckle and light speckle is justified by showing the similarities in the spatial propagation (or time expansion) of the waves. In addition, the second order correlation function is evaluated and the same dependence with distance was observed for the both waves. This creates the possibility to understand the properties of quantum matter in a disordered state. The propagation of a three-dimensional speckle field (as the matter-wave speckle described here) creates an opportunity to investigate the speckle phenomenon existing in dimensions higher than 2D (the case of light speckle). / Nesta tese, descrevemos a produção e os estudos de condensados de Bose-Einstein, em átomos de 87Rb, perturbados através de excitações oscilatórias. Os átomos aprisionados são aprisionados em uma armadilha magnética harmônica onde produzimos o condensado de Bose-Einstein após o processo de resfriamento evaporativo. Com o objetivo de estudar o efeito de excitações oscilatórias, um campo magnético quadrupolar temporalmente oscilanteé superposto ao campo de aprisionamento. Através dessa perturbação, podemos observar a excitação de modos coletivos no condensado. Mesmo para baixas amplitudes de excitação, o modo dipolar é facilmente excitado. Porém, observamos que para excitar o modo quadrupolar no condensado é necessária uma energia mínima. Através da expansão em tempo de voo da nuvem excitada, identificamos que, para amplitude de excitação na quail o modo quadrupolar é excitado, a nuvem expande sem inverter o aspect ratio. Analisando essas nuvens por longos tempos de voo, foi possível observar alguns vórtices e, às vezes, um estado turbulento na nuvem condensada. Calculamos a distribuição de momento dessas nuvens e notamos que ela exibe um comportamento de lei de potência, parecido com a lei de Kolmogorov para turbulência. Além disso, mostramos que pelo nosso método que desenvolvemos para calcular a distribuição de momento, a forma da curva dessa distribuição (inclusive o expoente da lei de potência) exibe uma dependência com o modo quadrupolar de oscilação da nuvem. A distribuição desordenada de picos e depleções, na imagem da distribuição de densidade do condensado turbulento expandido, assemelha-se ao perfil de intensidade de um feixe de luz com speckle. A analogia entre speckle de onda de matéria e de luz é fundamentada através das semelhanças entre a propagação (ou expansão) dessas duas ondas. Além disso, a função de correlação de segunda ordem foi calculada e a mesma dependência com a distância foi observada para as duas ondas. Isto cria a possibilidade de entender melhor as propriedades da matéria quântica em um estado de desordem. A propagação de um campo de speckle tridimensional (como é o caso do speckle de onda de matéria aqui descrito) cria uma oportunidade de investigar o fenômeno de speckle em dimensões maiores que 2D (o caso do speckle de luz).