Strong Outcoupling from Spin-2 ⁸⁷Rb Bose--Einstein Condensates

A pulsed atom laser is experimentally demonstrated by means of outcoupling coherent atoms from ⁸⁷Rb Bose--Einstein condensates in magnetic trap via radio-frequency pulses. To study the strong outcoupling dynamics of the atom laser, the original |F=2,m_F=2> condensate and the coupled |F=2,m_F=1> component, both of which overlap in space usually, are separated spatially by collective oscillations. The number of atoms in three of the five Zeeman states are measured and compared with the theoretical results.