Coherently scattering atoms from an excited Bose-Einstein condensate

Abstract

We consider scattering atoms from a fully Bose-Einstein condensed gas. If we take these atoms to be identical to those in the Bose-Einstein condensate, this scattering process is to a large extent analogous to Andreev reflection from the interface between a superconducting and a normal metal. We determine the scattering wave function in both the absence and the presence of a vortex. Our results show a qualitative difference between these two cases that can be understood as due to an Aharonov-Bohm effect. It leads to the possibility to experimentally study vortices in a nondestructive way.