Stabilizing an atom laser using spatially selective pumping and feedback

Abstract

We perform a comprehensive study of stability of a pumped atom laser in the presence of pumping, damping, and outcoupling. We also introduce a realistic feedback scheme to improve stability by extracting energy from the condensate and determine its effectiveness. We find that while the feedback scheme is highly efficient in reducing condensate fluctuations, it usually does not alter the stability class of a particular set of pumping, damping, and outcoupling parameters. © 2005 The American Physical Society.