What is recorded here?
Ben Dahan and colleagues prepared ultracold cesium atoms in the lowest band of a standing-wave optical potential and applied an inertial force by accelerating the lattice. After different evolution times they switched off the potential and measured atomic momentum distributions. The distributions recurred with the predicted Bloch period, while their inferred mean velocities yielded positive and negative band effective masses at different quasimomenta.
Source-linked catalogue note. A detailed explanatory guide has not yet been prepared for this entry.
Scientific scope
This experiment observes an ensemble of atoms in an engineered optical lattice, not individual electron trajectories or a new Bloch theory. A sufficiently weak acceleration and adiabatic loading limit transfers to higher bands; the observed momentum distributions and effective masses depend on the experimental preparation, force, readout and band model. The inferred position amplitude is not a direct position measurement. The experiment is distinct from the earlier semiconductor optical-signal measurements and from later atomic-recoil fine-structure determinations.
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People and systems
Maxime Ben Dahan; Ekkehard Peik; Jakob Reichel; Yvan Castin; Christophe Salomon
These are the listed authors of the cited contribution sources. Paper authorship does not quantify individual effort. An incomplete list is explicitly marked; same names are not automatically merged.
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English catalogue narrative
Bloch oscillations and effective masses of cold atoms in an optical lattice
Ben Dahan and colleagues prepared ultracold cesium atoms in the lowest band of a standing-wave optical potential and applied an inertial force by accelerating the lattice. After different evolution times they switched off the potential and measured atomic momentum distributions. The distributions recurred with the predicted Bloch period, while their inferred mean velocities yielded positive and negative band effective masses at different quasimomenta.
Scientific scope
This experiment observes an ensemble of atoms in an engineered optical lattice, not individual electron trajectories or a new Bloch theory. A sufficiently weak acceleration and adiabatic loading limit transfers to higher bands; the observed momentum distributions and effective masses depend on the experimental preparation, force, readout and band model. The inferred position amplitude is not a direct position measurement. The experiment is distinct from the earlier semiconductor optical-signal measurements and from later atomic-recoil fine-structure determinations.
Reading status
This is a source-linked WRS catalogue note. A full explanatory guide and independent scientific reconstruction have not been completed for this entry. Read the identified original work for its complete narrative and arguments.
People and systems
Maxime Ben Dahan; Ekkehard Peik; Jakob Reichel; Yvan Castin; Christophe Salomon
These are the listed authors of the cited contribution sources. Paper authorship does not quantify individual effort. An incomplete list is explicitly marked; same names are not automatically merged.