INTERFEROMETRY AND DISSIPATIVE OPTICS WITH ATOMS

We have designed a gravitational cavity for ultra-cold atoms using an atomic mirror made from an evanescent laser wave. By a temporal variat ion of the evanescent wave intensity, we have realized various atom op tics components such as temporal slits and phase modulators. We have a lso designed an atom interferometer using this cavity which proves tha t the coherence of the de Broglie waves can be preserved during the bo unce of the atoms on the mirror. Finally we show that an efficient coo ling of the atoms inside the cavity can be achieved using a Sisyphus p rocess during the bounce.