Observation of islands of stability in soft wall atom-optics billiards

We report on numerical and experimental observations of islands of stability induced in a Bunimovich stadium atom-optics billiard by a soft wall repulsive potential. A deviation from exponential decay of the survival probability of atoms in an open billiard is observed, and explained by the presence...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 87; no. 27 Pt 1; p. 274101
Main Authors Kaplan, A, Friedman, N, Andersen, M, Davidson, N
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 31.12.2001
Online AccessGet more information

Cover

More Information
Summary:We report on numerical and experimental observations of islands of stability induced in a Bunimovich stadium atom-optics billiard by a soft wall repulsive potential. A deviation from exponential decay of the survival probability of atoms in an open billiard is observed, and explained by the presence of these stable islands and a sticky region surrounding them. We also investigate islands in dispersing billiards with soft walls, and predict a new mechanism for their formation.
ISSN:0031-9007
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.274101