Eur. Phys. J. D (2012) 66: 315
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2012-30171-8

Regular Article

Quantum resonant effects in the delta-kicked rotor revisited

Department of Physics, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand

^a Current address: Department of Physics, University of Malakand, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, Pakistan e-mail: arif@uom.edu.pk
^b Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Bldg 13-3061, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA

Received: 12 March 2012
Received in final form: 12 September 2012
Published online: 21 December 2012

Abstract

We review the theoretical model and experimental realization of the atom optics δ-kicked rotor (AOKR), a paradigm of classical and quantum chaos. We have performed a number of experiments with an all-optical Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a periodic standing wave potential in an AOKR system. We discuss results of the investigation of the phenomena of quantum resonances in the AOKR. An interesting feature of the momentum distribution of the atoms obtained as a result of short pulses of light, is the variance of the momentum distribution or the kinetic energy ⟨p²⟩/2m in units of the recoil energy E_rec = ħω_rec. The energy of the system is examined as a function of pulse period for a range of kicks that allow the observation of quantum resonances. In particular we study the behavior of these resonances for a large number of kicks. Higher order quantum resonant effects corresponding to the fractional Talbot time of (1/4)T_T and (1/5)T_T for five and ten kicks have been observed. Moreover, we describe the effect of the initial momentum of the atoms on quantum resonances in the AOKR.