Reducing the linewidth of an atom laser by feedback

Abstract

A continuous atom laser will almost certainly have a linewidth dominated by the effect of the atomic interaction energy, which turns fluctuations in the condensate atom number into fluctuations in the condensate frequency. These correlated fluctuations mean that information about the atom number could be used to reduce the frequency fluctuations, by controlling a spatially uniform potential. We show that feedback based on a physically reasonable quantum non-demolition measurement of the atom number of the condensate in situ can reduce the linewidth enormously.