Robins, N. P., Figl, C., Haine, S. A., Morrison, A. K., Jeppesen, M., Hope, J. J. and Close, J. D. (2006) Achieving peak brightness in an atom laser. Physical Review Letters, 9614: 140403-1-140403-4.
In this Letter we present experimental results and a simple analytic theory on the first continuous (long pulse) Raman atom laser. We analyze the flux and brightness of a generic two state atom laser with an analytic model that shows excellent agreement with our experiments. We show that, for the same source size, the brightness achievable with a Raman atom laser is at least 3 orders of magnitude greater than achievable in any other demonstrated continuously outcoupled atom laser.