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. 1997 Jan 31;275(5300):637-41.
doi: 10.1126/science.275.5300.637.

Observation of Interference Between Two Bose Condensates

MR Andrews  1 , CG Townsend, H Miesner, DS Durfee, DM Kurn, W Ketterle
Affiliations

Observation of Interference Between Two Bose Condensates

MR Andrews et al. Science. .

Abstract

Interference between two freely expanding Bose-Einstein condensates has been observed. Two condensates separated by approximately 40 micrometers were created by evaporatively cooling sodium atoms in a double-well potential formed by magnetic and optical forces. High-contrast matter-wave interference fringes with a period of approximately 15 micrometers were observed after switching off the potential and letting the condensates expand for 40 milliseconds and overlap. This demonstrates that Bose condensed atoms are "laser-like"; that is, they are coherent and show long-range correlations. These results have direct implications for the atom laser and the Josephson effect for atoms.

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