Experimental demonstration of painting arbitrary and dynamic potentials for Bose-Einstein condensates

Abstract

There is a pressing need for robust and straightforward methods to create potentials for trapping Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) that are simultaneously dynamic, fully arbitrary and sufficiently stable to not heat the ultracold gas. We show here how to accomplish these goals, using a rapidly moving laser beam that 'paints' a time-averaged optical dipole potential in which we create BECs in a variety of geometries, including toroids, ring lattices and square lattices. Matter wave interference patterns confirm that the trapped gas is a condensate. As a simple illustration of dynamics, we show that the technique can transform a toroidal condensate into a ring lattice and back into a toroid. The technique is general and should work with any sufficiently polarizable low-energy particles. © IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft.