Expansion of a Bose-Einstein condensate from a microtrap into a waveguide

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Abstract
Coherence properties of atomic Bose-Einstein condensates determine the performance of waveguide atom interferometers. We analyze the expansion of a Bose-Einstein condensate from a magnetic microtrap into a waveguide. We derive analytical expressions to describe the expansion, show how the expanded cloud maps onto transverse linear eigenfunctions of the guide, and calculate the dependence of the modal decomposition coefficients on the chemical potential of the cloud and the anisotropy of the trap. Analytical results are compared with three-dimensional numerical simulations of the expansion.