All-optical matter-wave lens using time-averaged potentials

Abstract

The precision of matter-wave sensors benefits from interrogating large-particle-number atomic ensembles at high cycle rates. Quantum-degenerate gases with their low effective temperatures allow for constraining systematic errors towards highest accuracy, but their production by evaporative cooling is costly with regard to both atom number and cycle rate. In this work, we report on the creation of cold matter-waves using a crossed optical dipole trap and shaping them by means of an all-optical matter-wave lens. We demonstrate the trade off between lowering the residual kinetic energy and increasing the atom number by reducing the duration of evaporative cooling and estimate the corresponding performance gain in matter-wave sensors. Our method is implemented using time-averaged optical potentials and hence easily applicable in optical dipole trapping setups.