We investigate by means of numerical simulations the possibilities of tomographic techniques applied to a Bose-Einstein condensate in order to reconstruct its ground state. Essentially, two scenarios are considered for which the density matrix elements can be retrieved from atom counting probabilities. The methods presented here allow to distinguish among various possible quantum states.
We formulate necessary and sufficient conditions for a symplectic tomogram of a quantum state to determine the density state. We establish a connection between the (re)construction by means of symplectic tomograms with the construction by means of Naimark positive-definite functions on the Weyl-Heisenberg group. This connection is used to formulate properties which guarantee that tomographic probabilities describe quantum states in the probability representation of quantum mechanics.
Starting from the famous Pauli problem on the possibility to associate quantum states with probabilities, the formulation of quantum mechanics in which quantum states are described by fair probability distributions (tomograms, i.e. tomographic probabilities) is reviewed in a pedagogical style. The relation between the quantum state description and the classical state description is elucidated. The difference of those sets of tomograms is described by inequalities equivalent to a complete set of uncertainty relations for the quantum domain and to nonnegativity of probability density on phase sp…
We emphasize in these pedagogical notes the that the theory of the Radon transform and its applications is best understood using the theory of the metaplectic group and the quadratic Fourier transforms generating metaplectic operator.. Doing this we hope that these notes will be useful to a larger audience, including researchers in time-frequency analysis.
The existing relation between the tomographic description of quantum states and the convolution algebra of certain discrete groupoids represented on Hilbert spaces will be discussed. The realizations of groupoid algebras based on qudit, photon-number (Fock) states and symplectic tomography quantizers and dequantizers will be constructed. Conditions for identifying the convolution product of groupoid functions and the star--product arising from a quantization--dequantization scheme will be given. A tomographic approach to construct quasi--distributions out of suitable immersions of groupoids in…
After a general description of the tomographic picture for classical systems, a tomographic description of free classical scalar fields is proposed both in a finite cavity and the continuum. The tomographic description is constructed in analogy with the classical tomographic picture of an ensemble of harmonic oscillators. The tomograms of a number of relevant states such as the canonical distribution, the classical counterpart of quantum coherent states and a new family of so called Gauss--Laguerre states, are discussed. Finally the Liouville equation for field states is described in the tomog…
We propose a tomographic scheme to reconstruct the quantum state of a Bose-Einstein condensate, exploiting the radiation field as a probe and considering the atomic internal degrees of freedom. The density matrix in the number state basis can be directly retrieved from the atom counting probabilities.
It is now well established that quantum tomography provides an alternative picture of quantum mechanics. It is common to introduce tomographic concepts starting with the Schrodinger-Dirac picture of quantum mechanics on Hilbert spaces. In this picture states are a primary concept and observables are derived from them. On the other hand, the Heisenberg picture,which has evolved in the $C^\star-$algebraic approach to quantum mechanics, starts with the algebra of observables and introduce states as a derived concept. The equivalence between these two pictures amounts essentially, to the Gelfand-N…
Review of tomographic probability representation of quantum states is presented both for oscillator systems with continious variables and spin--systems with discrete variables. New entropic--information inequalities are obtained for Franck--Condon factors. Density matrices of qudit states are expressed in terms of probabilities of artificial qubits as well as the quantum suprematism approach to geometry of these states using the triadas of Malevich squares is developed. Examples of qubits, qutrits and ququarts are considered.
Based on a geometric picture, the example of free particle motion for both classical and quantum domains is considered in the tomographic probability representation. Wave functions and density operators as well as optical and symplectic tomograms are obtained as solutions of kinetic classical and quantum equations for the state tomograms. The difference of tomograms of free particle for classical and quantum states is discussed.
Impressive pictures of moving Bose-Einstein condensates have been taken using phase-contrast imaging M. R. Andrews et al., Science 273, 84 (1996). We calculate the quantum backaction of this measurement technique. We find that phase-contrast imaging is not a quantum nondemolition measurement of the atomic density. Instead, the condensate gets gradually depleted at a rate that is proportional to the light intensity and to the inverse cube of the optical wave length. The fewer atoms are condensed the higher is the required intensity to see a picture, and, consequently, the higher is the induced …
In this paper the problem of tomographic reconstruction of states is investigated within the so-called Schwinger's picture of Quantum Mechanics in which a groupoid is associated with every quantum system. The attention is focused on spin tomography: In this context the groupoid of interest is the groupoid of pairs over a finite set. In a nutshell, this groupoid is made up of transitions between all possible pairs of outcomes belonging to a finite set. In addition, these transitions possess a partial composition rule, generalizing the notion of groups. The main goal of the paper consists in pro…
We present a quantum phase space model of Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a double well potential. In a two-mode Fock-state analysis we examine the eigenvectors and eigenvalues and find that the energy correlation diagram indicates a transition from a delocalized to a fragmented regime. Phase space information is extracted from the stationary quantum states using the Husimi distribution function. It is shown that the quantum states are localized on the known classical phase space orbits of a nonrigid physical pendulum, and thus the novel phase space characteristics of a nonrigid physical pen…
There exists a large number of experimental and theoretical results supporting the picture of "macroscopic qubits" implemented, for instance, by Rydberg atoms, Josephson junctions or Bose-Einstein condensates - the systems which should rather emerge in localized semiclassical states. In this note it is shown how, under realistic conditions, the false qubit interpretation can be consistent with the restricted set of experimental data collected for semiclassical systems. The recent experiments displaying semiclassical character of Bose-Einstein condensates and possible quantumness tests for a si…
We propose a scheme to generate and detect various kinds of quantum entanglement in a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate. It is shown that substantial many-particle entanglement can be generated directly in the spin-1 condensate by free dynamical evolution with a properly prepared initial state. The scheme also provides a simple method to generate three-mode entanglement in the second-quantization picture and to detect the continuous variable type of entanglement between two effective modes in the spin-1 condensate.
We apply a hyperspherical formulation to a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate with dipolar and contact interactions. Central to this approach is a general correspondence between K-harmonic hyperspherical methods and a suitable Gaussian ansatz to the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, regardless of the form of the interparticle potential. This correspondence allows one to obtain hyperspherical potential energies for a wide variety of physical problems. In the case of the dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate, this motivates the inclusion of a beyond-mean field term within the hyperspherical picture, which all…
The dispersive interaction of a Bose-Einstein condensate with a single mode of a high-finesse optical cavity realizes the radiation pressure coupling Hamiltonian. In this system the role of the mechanical oscillator is played by a single condensate excitation mode that is selected by the cavity mode function. We study the effect of atomic s-wave collisions and show that it merely renormalizes parameters of the usual optomechanical interaction. Moreover, we show that even in the case of strong harmonic confinement---which invalidates the use of Bloch states---a single excitation mode of the Bos…
We present variational and numerical solutions for the problem of stability of persistent currents in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate of distinguishable atoms which rotate in a ring potential. We consider the general class of solutions of constant density in the two components separately, thus providing an alternative approach of the solution of the same problem given recently by Zhigang Wu and Eugene Zaremba [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 88}, 063640 (2013)]. Our approach provides a physically transparent solution of this delicate problem. Finally, we give a unified and simple picture of the low…
Bose-Einstein condensation is unique among phase transitions between different states of matter in the sense that it occurs even in the absence of interactions between particles. In Einstein's textbook picture of an ideal gas, purely statistical arguments set an upper bound on the number of particles occupying the excited states of the system, and condensation is driven by this saturation of the quantum vapour. Dilute ultracold atomic gases are celebrated as a realisation of Bose-Einstein condensation in close to its purely statistical form. Here we scrutinise this point of view using an ultra…
We present a detailed beyond-mean-field analysis of a weakly interacting Bose gas in the crossover from three to low dimensions. We find an analytical solution for the energy and provide a clear qualitative picture of the crossover in the case of a box potential with periodic boundary conditions. We show that the leading contribution of the confinement-induced resonance is of beyond-mean-field order and calculate the leading corrections in the three- and low-dimensional limits. We also characterize the crossover for harmonic potentials in a model system with particularly chosen short- and long…
By cyclic adiabatic change of two control parameters of an optical trap one can induce a circulating current of condensed bosons. The amount of particles that are transported per period depends on the "radius" of the cycle, and this dependence can be utilized in order to probe the interatomic interactions. For strong repulsive interaction the current can be regarded as arising from a sequence of Landau-Zener crossings. For weaker interaction one observes either gradual or coherent mega crossings, while for attractive interaction the particles are glued together and behave like a classical ball…
We investigate a multilayer stack of dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates in terms of a simple Gaussian variational ansatz and demonstrate that this arrangement is characterized by the existence several stationary states. Using a Hamiltonian picture we show that in an excited stack there is a coupled motion of the individual condensates by which they exchange energy. We find that for high excitations the interaction between the single condensates can induce the collapse of one of them. We furthermore demonstrate that one collapse in the stack can force other collapses, too. We discuss the possibi…
The impact of interparticle correlations on the behavior of Bose-Einstein Condensates (BECs) is discussed using two approaches. In the first approach, the wavefunction of a BEC is encoded in the $N$-particle sector of an extended "catalytic state". Going to a time-dependent interaction picture, we can organize the effective Hamiltonian by powers of ${N}^{-1/2}$. Requiring the terms of order ${N}^{1/2}$ to vanish, we get the Gross-Pitaevskii Equation. Going to the next order, $N^0$, we obtain the number-conserving Bogoliubov approximation. Our approach allows one to stay in the Schrödinger pict…
We study the thermodynamics of Bose-Einstein condensation in a weakly interacting quasi-homogeneous atomic gas, prepared in an optical-box trap. We characterise the critical point for condensation and observe saturation of the thermal component in a partially condensed cloud, in agreement with Einstein's textbook picture of a purely statistical phase transition. Finally, we observe the quantum Joule-Thomson effect, namely isoenthalpic cooling of an (essentially) ideal gas. In our experiments this cooling occurs spontaneously, due to energy-independent collisions with the background gas in the …
We have performed two-photon excitation via the 6P3/2 state to n=50-80 S or D Rydberg state in Bose-Einstein condensates of rubidium atoms. The Rydberg excitation was performed in a quartz cell, where electric fields generated by plates external to the cell created electric charges on the cell walls. Avoiding accumulation of the charges and realizing good control over the applied electric field was obtained when the fields were applied only for a short time, typically a few microseconds. Rydberg excitations of the Bose-Einstein condensates loaded into quasi one-dimensional traps and in optical…
A recently developed efficient recursive approach for analytically calculating the short-time evolution of the one-particle propagator to extremely high orders is applied here for numerically studying the thermodynamical and dynamical properties of a rotating ideal Bose gas of $^{87}$Rb atoms in an anharmonic trap. At first, the one-particle energy spectrum of the system is obtained by diagonalizing the discretized short-time propagator. Using this, many-boson properties such as the condensation temperature, the ground-state occupancy, density profiles, and time-of-flight absorption pictures a…