Abstract
We have studied the effects of a disordered optical potential on the transport and phase coherence of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of atoms. At moderate disorder strengths , we observe inhibited transport and damping of dipole excitations, while in time-of-flight images, random but reproducible interference patterns are observed. In situ images reveal that the appearance of interference is correlated with density modulation, without complete fragmentation. At higher , the interference contrast diminishes as the BEC fragments into multiple pieces with little phase coherence.
- Received 26 October 2007
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.77.033632
©2008 American Physical Society