Global Positioning System (GPS) dissemination of frequency standards is ubiquitous at present, providing the most widespread time and frequency reference for the majority of industrial and research applications worldwide. On the other hand, the ultimate limits of the GPS presently curb further advances in high-precision, scientific and industrial applications relying on this dissemination scheme. Here, we demonstrate that these limits can be reliably overcome even in laboratories without a local atomic clock by replacing the GPS with a 642-km-long optical fiber link to a remote primary caesium frequency standard.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnderson localization of waves in disordered media was originally predicted fifty years ago, in the context of transport of electrons in crystals. The phenomenon is much more general and has been observed in a variety of systems, including light waves. However, Anderson localization has not been observed directly for matter waves.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this Letter we report the investigation of transport and static properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a large-spaced optical lattice. The lattice spacing can be easily tuned starting from few micrometers by adjusting the relative angle of two partially reflective mirrors. We have performed in-situ imaging of the atoms trapped in the potential wells of a 20 microm spaced lattice.
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