Ananth Chikkatur
Curriculum Vitae
Department of Physics, Research Laboratory of Electronics, and MIT-Harvard
Center for Ultracold Atoms,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Room 26-253
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 253-4178 Tel-Lab
(617) 864-4641 Tel-Home
(617) 253-4876 Fax
Email: ananth@mit.edu
Current position (since 7/97)
Graduate Student Research Assistant,
Prof. Wolfgang Ketterle group.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge MA 02139
Research interests
My main research interests are in atomic physics, particularly in the area of laser cooling and trapping
of neutral atoms and Bose-Einstein condensation. I have studied the static and dynamical properties of
Bose condensates, especially its superfluid aspects.
Recently, I led a team of graduate students and post-docs to build a next generation sodium Bose
condensate apparatus, which will be the workhorse of our future BEC work. The new apparatus
produces large condensates, which are then transported via optical tweezers to an auxiliary chamber,
where most of the experiments are done.
Currently, we are studying atomic waveguides using Bose condensates. We hope to produce bigger
atom lasers, study condensate-surface interactions, and perform better atom interferometry with our
new apparatus.
Biographical Information:
Date of Birth: August 10, 1975
Place of Birth: Bangalore, India
Citizenship: USA
Education:
 BS, Physics, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, 1997
 Candidate for Ph.D. in Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts,
Expected graduation in Summer 2002.
Employment:
 7/97 to present: Research assistant, Wolfgang Ketterle group, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge MA.
 6/96 to 5/97: Research assistant, Nicholas Bigelow group, Department of Physics, University of
Rochester, Rochester NY.
 9/95 to 12/96: Research assistant, Arie Bodek group, Department of Physics, University of
Rochester, Rochester NY.
 5/95 to 8/95: Summer student, E815 (NuTeV), a fixed target experiment, Fermilab, Batavia IL.
 10/93 to 12/94: Lab assistant, Materials group at Laboratory of Laser Energetics, Rochester NY.
Teaching Experience:
 1/97 to 5/97 and 1/96 to 5/96: Teaching assistant, Prepared and conducted recitation sections for
Elements of Quantum Physics, freshman undergraduate level, Department of Physics, University of
Rochester.
 9/95 to 12/95: Course grader for Boundary Value Problems, junior undergraduate level,
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Rochester.
 9/94 to 5/95: Teaching assistant, Prepared and conducted recitation sections for Analysis and
Differential Equations, sophomore level undergraduate, Department of Mathematics, University of
Rochester.
Honors and Awards:
1. National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship (1997-2000)
2. Deutsch Award for Excellence in Experimental Physics (1999)
3. National Science Scholarship (1993-1997)
4. Xerox Scholarship (1993-1997)
5. Flagg Award for Outstanding scholarship in Physics (1997)
6. Stoddard Prize for Best Senior thesis in Physics (1997)
7. Fulbright Prize for excellence in Advanced Laboratory in Physics (1996)
8. Honors Prize for excellence in Sophomore Physics (1994)
9. Member of  (Physics Honor Society, 1996)
10. Member of 1996)
Professional Affiliations:
American Physical Society (APS)
Optical Society of America (OSA)
Miscellaneous:
Volunteer for Asha for Education-Boston chapter, an action group for basic education in India.
Publication List
Papers (in refereed journals):
1. T.L. Gustavson, A.P. Chikkatur, A.E. Leanhardt, A. Görlitz, S. Gupta, D.E. Pritchard, and W.
Ketterle:
Transport of Bose-Einstein Condensation using Optical Tweezers.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 020401 (2002).
2. A. Görlitz, J.M. Vogels, A.E. Leanhardt, C. Raman, T.L. Gustavson, J.R. Abo-Shaeer, A.P.
Chikkatur, S. Gupta, S. Inouye, T.P. Rosenband, D.E. Pritchard, and W. Ketterle:
Realization of Bose-Einstein condensates in lower dimensions.
Phys. Rev. Lett., 87 130402 (2001).
3. S. Inouye, S. Gupta, T. Rosenband, A.P. Chikkatur, A. Görlitz, T.L. Gustavson, A.E. Leanhardt,
D.E. Pritchard, and W. Ketterle:
Observation of vortex phase singularities in Bose-Einstein condensates.
Phys. Rev. Lett., 87 080402 (2001).
4. A. Görlitz, A.P. Chikkatur, and W. Ketterle:
Enhancement and suppression of spontaneous emission and light scattering by quantum
degeneracy.
Phys. Rev. A 36, 041601(R) (2001).
5. R. Onofrio, C. Raman, J. M. Vogels, J. Abo-Shaeer, A. P. Chikkatur, and W. Ketterle:
Observation of Superfluid Flow in a Bose-Einstein Condensed Gas..
Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 2228 (2000).
6. A.P. Chikkatur, A. Görlitz, D.M. Stamper-Kurn, S. Inouye, S. Gupta, and W. Ketterle:
Suppression and enhancement of impurity scattering in a Bose-Einstein condensate.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 483 (2000).
7. S. Inouye, T. Pfau, S. Gupta, A. P. Chikkatur, A. Görlitz, D.E. Pritchard, and W. Ketterle:
Observation of phase-coherent amplification of atomic matter waves.
Nature 402, 641-644 (1999).
8. J. Stenger, S. Inouye, D.M. Stamper-Kurn, A.P. Chikkatur, D.E. Pritchard, and W. Ketterle:
Bragg spectroscopy and superradiant Rayleigh scattering in a Bose-Einstein condensate.
Appl. Phys. B 69, 347-352 (1999).
9. D.M. Stamper-Kurn, A.P. Chikkatur, A. Görlitz, S. Inouye, S. Gupta, D.E. Pritchard, and W.
Ketterle:
Excitation of phonons in a Bose-Einstein condensate by light scattering.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 2876-2879 (1999).
10. S. Inouye, A.P. Chikkatur, D.M. Stamper-Kurn, J. Stenger, D.E. Pritchard, and W. Ketterle:
Superradiant Rayleigh scattering from a Bose-Einstein condensate.
Science 285, 571-574 (1999).
11. D.M. Stamper-Kurn, H.-J. Miesner, A.P. Chikkatur, S. Inouye, J. Stenger, and W. Ketterle:
Quantum tunneling across spin domains in a Bose-Einstein condensate.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 661-665 (1999).
12. J. Stenger, S. Inouye, A.P. Chikkatur, D.M. Stamper-Kurn, D.E. Pritchard, and W. Ketterle:
Bragg spectroscopy of a Bose-Einstein condensate.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 4569–4573 (1999).
13. H.-J. Miesner, D.M. Stamper-Kurn, J. Stenger, S. Inouye, A.P. Chikkatur, and W. Ketterle:
Observation of metastable states in spinor Bose-Einstein condensates.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 2228-2231 (1999).
14. J. Stenger, D.M. Stamper-Kurn, M.R. Andrews, A.P. Chikkatur, S. Inouye, H.-J. Miesner, and W.
Ketterle:
Optically confined Bose-Einstein condensates.
Proceedings of the Symposium on “Quantum Fluids and Solids” (QFS 98), Amherst,
Massachusetts, June 9-14, 1998.
J. Low Temp. Phys. 113, 167-188 (1998).
15. J. Stenger, S. Inouye, D.M. Stamper-Kurn, H.-J. Miesner, A.P. Chikkatur, and W. Ketterle:
Spin domains in ground state spinor Bose-Einstein condensates.
Nature 396, 345-348 (1998).
16. D.M. Stamper-Kurn, H.-J. Miesner, A.P. Chikkatur, S. Inouye, J. Stenger, and W. Ketterle:
Reversible formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 2194-2197 (1998).
17. D.M. Stamper-Kurn, M.R. Andrews, A.P. Chikkatur, S. Inouye, H.-J. Miesner, J. Stenger, and W.
Ketterle:
Optical confinement of a Bose-Einstein condensate.
Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 2027-2030 (1998).
18. A.P. Chikkatur, et. al. (NuTeV/CCFR collaboration):
Tests of a calorimetric technique for measuring the energy of cosmic ray muons in the TeV energy
range.
Z. Phys. C. 74, 279-289 (1997).
Articles in Proceedings:
19. W. Ketterle, A.P. Chikkatur, and C. Raman:
Collective enhancement and suppression in Bose-Einstein condensates.
in: Atomic Physics 17, edited by E. Arimondo, P. DeNatale, and M. Inguscio (American Institute
of Physics, Melville, New York, 2001), pp. 337-355; e-print cond-mat/0010375
20. D.M. Stamper-Kurn, A.P. Chikkatur, A. Görlitz, S. Gupta, S. Inouye, J. Stenger, D.E. Pritchard,
and W. Ketterle:
Probing Bose-Einstein condensates with optical Bragg scattering
in: Recent Progress in Many-Body Theories, R.F. Bishop, K.A. Gernoth, N.R. Walet, and Y. Xian
eds. (World Scientific, 2000); Int. J. Mod. Phys. B 15, 1621-1640 (2001).
Invited presentations:
21. The Bose-Einstein Condensate: A Superfluid gas of coherent atoms:
Invited talks at:
a) Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India (December 12, 2001).
b) Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, India (December 24, 2001).
c) Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay, Mumbai, India (January 4, 2002).
d) Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India (January 7, 2002).
22. Impurity Collisions and Superfluidity:
Invited talk, The Third Workshop on Laser Cooling, Shonan Village Center, Japan, January 2001.
23. Spinor Bose-Einstein condensates: Ground states, metastability, and quantum tunneling,
Invited talk, RTC and ITAMP Workshop on Multi-Component and Spinor Bose-Einstein
Condensates of Trapped Dilute Vapors, Rochester, 1/6-8/2000, Book of Abstracts, p. 9.
Selected contributions to conferences with published abstracts:
24. Experiments with Transported Bose-Einstein Condensates,
A. P. Chikkatur, T. L. Gustavson, A. Görlitz, S. Gupta, A. E. Leanhardt, S. Inouye, T. P.
Rosenband, D. E. Pritchard and W. Ketterle,
Euresco Conference on the Physics of Atomic Gases at Low Temperatures, San Feliu de Guixols,
Spain, September 15-20, 2001, Book of Abstracts.
25. Transported Bose-Einstein Condensates,
A.P. Chikkatur, S. Gupta, S. Inouye, A.E. Leanhardt, A. Görlitz, T.L. Gustavson, T.L. Rosenband,
D.E. Pritchard and W. Ketterle,
15th International Conference on Laser Spectroscopy, Snowbird, Utah, June 10-15, 2001 (ICOLS
01), Book of Abstracts, page P1-2.
26. 1 and 2 dimensional Bose-Einstein Condensates,
J. Vogels, A. Görlitz, C. Raman, T. Gustavson, M. Drndic, A. Leanhardt, J. Abo-Shaeer, R. Loew,
and W. Ketterle,
Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 46, 48 (2001).
27. Impurity scattering in a Bose-Einstein Condensate
A. Chikkatur, A. Görlitz, D.M. Stamper-Kurn, S. Inouye, S. Gupta, D. Pritchard and W. Ketterle,
Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 45, 48 (2000).
28. Suppression and enhancement of impurity scattering in a Bose-Einstein condensate,
A.P. Chikkatur, A. Görlitz, D.M. Stamper-Kurn, S. Inouye, S. Gupta, and W. Ketterle,
Technical Digest of Quantum Electronics and Laser Science conference (QELS 2000), post
deadline paper QPD 2-1/3.
29. Putting a spin on BEC: Ground states, metastability and tunneling,
D.M. Stamper-Kurn, J. Stenger, H.-J. Miesner, S. Inouye, A.P. Chikkatur, and W. Ketterle,
Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 44, 1007 (1999).
30. Studies of optically confined Bose-Einstein condensates,
D.M. Stamper-Kurn, M.R. Andrews, A.P. Chikkatur, S. Inouye, H.-J. Miesner, J. Stenger, and W.
Ketterle,
Bull. Am. Phys. Soc. 43, 1251 (1998).
31. Development of a new technique for measuring the energies of Cosmic Ray Muons in the TeV
energy range,
Ananth P. Chikkatur, Bulletin of the American Physical Society, Indianapolis IN, May 1996.