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arXiv · 2610.08942

Matter wave bistability with a momentum chirped Bose-Einstein condensate

Mikhail Mamaev·Nicholas Mantella·Noah P. Baker·Joseph McGowan IV·Aephraim M. Steinberg
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Abstract

While a Fabry-Perot (FP) cavity interferometer is a standard tool in modern optics, analogous physics can also be observed with matter waves such as Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). Interatomic collisions in BECs can induce nonlinear features such as multi-valued transmission spectra for interferometry experiments. Observation of interaction effects in the matter-wave analogue of FP interferometry has not yet been experimentally achieved, mostly due to broadening of transmission peaks by interaction-induced shifts of cavity resonances. In this work, we theoretically show that this limitation can be overcome by engineering a momentum chirp in a BEC wavepacket. By balancing this chirp against the dynamical mean-field energy shift of the cavity during transmission, we predict enhanced resonant spectra and bistability features due to interaction-assisted tunneling that would be otherwise inaccessible. We show that this physics is readily observable with quasi-one-dimensional BECs of cold atoms colliding with a pair of light-induced Gaussian potential barriers forming the cavity. We also benchmark the requisite optimum chirp needed and characterize the contrast of near-discontinuous FP transmission spectra at an interacting resonance. Our findings enable the realization of technologies like matter-wave switching protocols, and high-precision velocity measurements; estimates of achievable sensitivity for the latter are provided.

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Mikhail Mamaev, Nicholas Mantella, Noah P. Baker, Joseph McGowan IV, Aephraim M. Steinberg. 2026-10-06. Matter wave bistability with a momentum chirped Bose-Einstein condensate. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.08942

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