Proposal for a chaotic ratchet using cold atoms in optical lattices

We investigate a new type of quantum ratchet which may be realized by cold atoms in a double-well optical lattice, pulsed with unequal periods. The classical dynamics is chaotic and we find the classical diffusion rate D is asymmetric in momentum up to a finite time t(r). The quantum behavior produc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPhysical review letters Vol. 89; no. 19; p. 194102
Main Authors Monteiro, T S, Dando, P A, Hutchings, N A C, Isherwood, M R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 04.11.2002
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Summary:We investigate a new type of quantum ratchet which may be realized by cold atoms in a double-well optical lattice, pulsed with unequal periods. The classical dynamics is chaotic and we find the classical diffusion rate D is asymmetric in momentum up to a finite time t(r). The quantum behavior produces a corresponding asymmetry in the momentum distribution which is "frozen-in" by dynamical localization provided the break time t(*)>or=t(r). We conclude that the cold atom ratchets require Db/ variant Planck's over 2pi approximately 1, where b is a small deviation from period-one pulses.
ISSN:0031-9007
DOI:10.1103/physrevlett.89.194102