Observation of Islands of Stability in Soft Wall Atom-Optics Billiards

Ariel Kaplan, Nir Friedman, Mikkel Andersen, and Nir Davidson

We report on numerical and experimental observations of islands of stability induced in a Bunimovich stadium atom-optics billiard by a soft wall repulsive potential. A deviation from exponential decay of the survival probability of atoms in an open billiard is observed, and explained by the presence of these stable islands and a sticky region surrounding them. We also investigate islands in dispersing billiards with soft walls, and predict a new mechanism for their formation.

“Observation of Islands of Stability in Soft Wall Atom-Optics Billiards”, A. Kaplan, N. Friedman, M. Andersen, and N. Davidson, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 274101 (2001). ( PDF)

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