We propose a scheme to create a macroscopic ``Schödinger cat'' state formed by two interacting Bose condensates. In analogy with quantum optics, where the control and engineering of quantum states can be maintained to a large extend, we consider the present scheme to be an example of quantum atom optics at work.
We consider how macroscopic quantum superpositions may be created from arrays of Bose-Einstein condensates. We study a system of three condensates in Fock states, all with the same number of atoms and show that this has the form of a highly entangled superposition of different quasi-momenta. We then show how, by partially releasing these condensates and detecting an interference pattern where they overlap, it is possible to create a macroscopic superposition of different relative phases for the remaining portions of the condensates. We discuss methods for confirming these superpositions.
We present a straightforward scheme for creating macroscopic superpositions of different superfluid flow states of Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in optical lattices. This scheme has the great advantage that all the techniques required are achievable with current experiments. Furthermore, the relative difficulty of creating cats scales favorably with the size of the cat. This means that this scheme may be well-suited to creating superpositions involving large numbers of particles. Such states may have interesting technological applications such as making quantum-limited measurements of angu…
The availability of Bose-Einstein condensates as mesoscopic or macroscopic quantum objects has aroused new interest in the possiblity of making and detecting coherent superpositions involving many atoms. In this article we show that it may be possible to generate such a superposition state in a reasonably short time using Feshbach resonances to tune the inter-atomic interactions in a double-well condensate. We also consider the important problem of distinguishing whether a coherent superposition or a statistical mixture is generated by a given experimental procedure. We find that unambiguously…
We propose a scheme for generation of arbitrary coherent superposition of vortex states in Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) using the orbital angular momentum (OAM) states of light. We devise a scheme to generate coherent superpositions of two counter-rotating OAM states of light using known experimental techniques. We show that a specially designed Raman scheme allows transfer of the optical vortex superposition state onto an initially non-rotating BEC. This creates an arbitrary and coherent superposition of a vortex and anti-vortex pair in the BEC. The ideas presented here could be extended t…
The multiphoton quantum superposition generated by a quantum-injected optical parametric amplifier (QI-OPA) seeded by a single-photon belonging to an EPR entangled pair is made to interact with a Mirror-BEC shaped as a Bragg interference structure. The effect can be greatly enhanced if the mirror is part of a cavity structure or is used within an optical interferometer. The overall process will realize an Entangled Macroscopic Quantum Superposition involving a ''microscopic'' singe-photon state of polarization and the coherent ''macroscopic'' displacement of the BEC structure acting in space-l…
We demonstrate that incoherent photon scattering by a Bose-Einstein condensate of non-ideal atomic gas is enhanced due to bosonic stimulation of spontaneous emission, similarly to coherent scattering in forward direction. Necessary initial population of non-condensate states is provided by quantum depletion of a condensate caused by interatomic repulsion.
Matter-wave interferometers are, in principle, orders of magnitude more sensitive than their optical counterparts. Nevertheless, creation of matter-wave currents to achieve such a sensitivity is a continuing challenge. Here, we propose the use of Optical Angular Momentum (OAM) induced vortex superpositions in Bose-Einstein Condensates (BECs) as an alternative to atom interferometers for gyroscopy. The coherent superposition of two counter-rotating vortex states of a trapped condensate leads to an interference pattern that rotates by an angle proportional to the angular velocity of the rotating…
We study wave packet dynamics of a Bose condensate in a periodically shaken trap. Dichotomy, that is, dynamic splitting of the condensate, and dynamic stabilization are analyzed in analogy with similar phenomena in the domain of atoms in strong laser fields.
We present a scheme for creating quantum entangled atomic states through the coherent spin-exchange collision of a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate. The state generated possesses macroscopic Einstein-Podolsky-Roson correlation and the fluctuation in one of its quasi-spin components vanishes. We show that an elongated condensate with large aspect ratio is most suitable for creating such a state.
We show that the use of a generalized atom-molecule dark state permits the enhanced coherent creation of triatomic molecules in a repulsive atomic Bose-Einstein condensate, with further enhancement being possible in the case of heteronuclear trimers via the constructive interference between two chemical reaction channels.
We propose a method to probe dispersive atom-surface interactions by measuring via two-photon Bragg spectroscopy the dynamic structure factor of a Bose-Einstein condensate above corrugated surfaces. This method takes advantage of the condensate coherence to reveal the spatial Fourier components of the lateral Casimir-Polder interaction energy.
We recently proposed a scheme for the creation of coherent superpositions of vortex states in Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) using orbital angular momentum (OAM) states of light [Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 173601 (2005)]. Here we discuss further technical details of the proposal, provide alternative, time-reversal-symmetric scheme for transfer of a superposition of OAM states of light to the BEC via a procedure analogous to the traditional STimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP) technique, and discuss an alternative trap configuration conducive for sustaining large charge vortices. Superpositio…
We analyze the steady-state entanglement between Bose-Einstein condensate trapped inside an optical cavity with a moving end mirror (nanomechanical resonator) driven by a single mode laser. The quantized laser field mediates the interaction between the Bose-Einstein condensate and nanomechanical resonator. In particular, we study the influence of temperature on the entanglement of the coupled system, and note that the steady-state entanglement is fragile with respect to temperature.
Elastic scattering probes directly the interaction potential. For weakly interacting condensates this potential is given by the condensate density. We investigate how the differential and total cross sections reflect the density. In particular, we have determined which signatures the Thomas Fermi approximation leaves in contrast to an exact solution for the condensate wave function within the Gross-Pitaevskii theory.
We study how macroscopic superpositions of coherent states produced by the nondissipative dynamics of binary mixtures of ultracold atoms are affected by atom losses. We identify different decoherence scenarios for symmetric or asymmetric loss rates and interaction energies in the two modes. In the symmetric case the quantum coherence in the superposition is lost after a single loss event. By tuning appropriately the energies we show that the superposition can be protected, leading to quantum correlations useful for atom interferometry even after many loss events.
We propose to generate macroscopic superposition states of a large number of atoms in the ground state of a three-mode spinor Bose-Einstein condensate. The ground state is protected by a finite energy gap, is immune to phase noise, and the measurement of the number of particles in one mode heralds the coherent preparation of the two other modes simultaneously empty and filled. Highly entangled macroscopic superposition states are generated with large probability also taking into account quasi-adiabatic preparation of the ground state. All the key ingredients necessary to realize our proposal a…
We present an elementary model of the collapses and revivals in the visibility of the interference between two atomic Bose-Einstein condensates. We obtain different predictions of the revival times whether we conserve or break atom number conservation from the outset. The validity of Bose-broken symmetry can be tested by observations of these collapses and revivals.
We discuss the effect of anomalous quantum-reflection of Bose-Einstein condensates as a screening effect, that is created by the condensate itself. We derive an effective, time-independent single-mode approach, that allows us to define different paths of reflection. We compare our theory with experimental results.
We study theoretically the interaction-induced generation of mesoscopic coherent spin state superpositions (small cat states) from an initial coherent spin state in bimodal Bose-Einstein condensates and the subsequent phase revival, including decoherence due to particle losses and fluctuations of the total particle number. In a full multimode description, we propose a preparation procedure of the initial coherent spin state and we study the effect of preexisting thermal fluctuations on the phase revival, and on the spin and orbito-spinorial cat fidelities.
I present an interconversion currents algebra for an atom-molecule Bose-Einstein condensate model and use it to get the quantum dynamics of the currents. For different choices of the Hamiltonian parameters I get different currents dynamics.
We present a model describing the decay of a Bose-Einstein condensate, which assumes the system to remain in thermal equilibrium during the decay. We show that under this assumption transfer of atoms occurs from the condensate to the thermal cloud enhancing the condensate decay rate.
We examine the internal structure of the ground states of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate in which atoms have three internal hyperfine spins. We determine a set of collective spin states which minimize the interaction energy between condensate atoms. We also examine the internal dynamics of an initially spin polarized condensate. The time scale of spin-mixing is predicted.
Collapsing Bose-Einstein condensates are rich and complex quantum systems for which quantitative explanation by simple models has proved elusive. We present new experimental data on the collapse of high density Rb-85 condensates with attractive interactions and find quantitative agreement with the predictions of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The collapse data and measurements of the decay of atoms from our condensates allow us to put new limits on the value of the Rb-85 three-body loss coefficient K_3 at small positive and negative scattering lengths.
We propose an experiment for entangling two spatially separated Bose-Einstein condensates by Bragg scattering of light. When Bragg scattering in two condensates is stimulated by a common probe, the resulting quasiparticles in the two condensates get entangled due to quantum communication between the condensates via probe beam. The entanglement is shown to be significant and occurs in both number and quadrature phase variables. We present two methods of detecting the generated entanglement.
We have observed high-contrast matter wave interference between 30 Bose-Einstein condensates with uncorrelated phases. Interference patterns were observed after independent condensates were released from a one-dimensional optical lattice and allowed to expand and overlap. This initially surprising phenomenon is explained with a simple theoretical model which generalizes the analysis of the interference of two independent condensates.
We theoretically study macroscopic entanglement between a magnetically trapped Bose-Einstein condensate and a superconducting loop. We treat the superconducting loop in a quantum superposition of two different flux states coupling with the magnetic trap to generate macroscopic entanglement. The scheme also provides a platform to investigate interferometry with an entangled Bose Einstein condensate and to explore physics at the quantum-classical interface.
A protocol for teleportation of the state of a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a three-well potential is developed. The protocol uses hard-sphere cross-collision between the condensate modes as a means of generating entanglement. As Bell state measurement, it is proposed that a homodyne detection of the condensate quadrature is performed through Josephson coupling of the condensate mode to another mode in a neighbouring well.
We consider two dilute gas Bose-Einstein condensates with opposite velocities from which a monochromatic light field detuned far from the resonance of the optical transition is coherently scattered. In the thermodynamic limit, when the relative fluctuations of the atom number difference between the two condensates vanish, the relative phase between the Bose-Einstein condensates may be established in a superposition state by detections of spontaneously scattered photons, even though the condensates have initially well-defined atom numbers. For a finite system, stochastic simulations show that t…
We study some effects arising from periodic modulation of the asymmetry and the barrier height of a two-well potential containing a Bose-Einstein condensate. At certain modulation frequencies the system exhibits resonances, which may lead to enhancement of the tunneling rate between the wells and which can be used to control the particle distribution among the wells. Some of the effects predicted for a two-well system can be carried over to the case of a Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice.
We discuss the dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate during its nondestructive imaging. A generalized Lindblad superoperator in the condensate master equation is used to include the effect of the measurement. A continuous imaging with a sufficiently high laser intensity progressively drives the quantum state of the condensate into number squeezed states. Observable consequences of such a measurement-induced squeezing are discussed.
Non-adiabatic interaction ramps are considered for trapped Bose-Einstein condensates. The deviation from adiabaticity is characterized through the heating or residual energy produced during the ramp. We find that the dependence of the heat on the ramp time is very sensitive to the ramp protocol. We explain features of this dependence through a single-parameter effective description based on the dynamics of the condensate size.
We study the spontaneous emission of a partially excited Bose-Einstein condensate composed of two-level atoms. The formation of polaritons induced by the ground-state part of the condensate leads to an avoided crossing in the photon spectrum. This avoided crossing acts similarly to a photonic band gap and modifies the spontaneous emission rate.
In this letter, atom optic techniques are proposed to control the excitation of a Bose-Einstein condensate in an atomic trap. We show that by employing the dipole potential induced by four highly detuned travelling-wave laser beams with appropriate phases and frequencies, one can coherently excite a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate composed of ultracold alkali atoms into a state rotating around the trap center. The connection to vortex states is discussed.
A neutral impurity atom immersed in a dilute Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) can have a bound ground state in which the impurity is self-localized. In this small polaron-like state, the impurity distorts the density of the surrounding BEC, thereby creating the self-trapping potential minimum. We describe the self-localization in a strong coupling approach.
Dark solitons in cigar shaped Bose-Einstein condensates of Rubidium-87 are created by a phase imprinting method. Coherent and dissipative dynamics of the solitons has been observed.
Preparation of molecular quantum gas promises novel applications including quantum control of chemical reactions, precision measurements, quantum simulation and quantum information processing. Experimental preparation of colder and denser molecular samples, however, is frequently hindered by fast inelastic collisions that heat and deplete the population. Here we report the formation of two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) of spinning $g-$wave molecules by inducing pairing interactions in an atomic condensate. The trap geometry and the low temperature of the molecules help reducing …
We describe the transition of $N$ weakly interacting atoms into a Bose-Einstein condensate within a number-conserving quantum master equation theory. Based on the separation of time scales for condensate formation and non-condensate thermalization, we derive a master equation for the condensate subsystem in the presence of the non-condensate environment under the inclusion of all two body interaction processes. We numerically monitor the condensate particle number distribution during condensate formation, and derive a condition under which the unique equilibrium steady state of a dilute, weakl…
We calculate the condensate fraction and the condensate and non-condensate spatial and momentum distribution of the Bose-Hubbard model in a trap. From our results, it is evident that using approximate distributions can lead to erroneous experimental estimates of the condensate. Strong interactions cause the condensate to develop pedestal-like structures around the central peak that can be mistaken as non-condensate atoms. Near the transition temperature, the peak itself can include a significant non-condensate component. Using distributions generated from QMC simulations, experiments can map t…
We derive and analyze shock-wave solutions of hydrodynamic equations describing repulsively interacting one dimensional Bose gas. We also use the number-conserving Bogolubov approach to verify accuracy of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation in shock wave problems. We show that quantum corrections to dynamics of shocks (dark-shock-originated solitons) in a Bose-Einstein condensate are negligible (important) for a realistic set of system parameters. We point out possible signatures of a Bose-Einstein condensate -- Tonks crossover in shock dynamics. Our findings can be directly verified in different ex…
The condensate number distribution during the transition of a dilute, weakly interacting gas of N=200 bosonic atoms into a Bose-Einstein condensate is modeled within number conserving master equation theory of Bose-Einstein condensation. Initial strong quantum fluctuations occuring during the exponential cycle of condensate growth reduce in a subsequent saturation stage, before the Bose gas finally relaxes towards the Gibbs-Boltzmann equilibrium.
We devise a microscopic scattering approach to probe the excitation spectrum of a Bose-Einstein condensate. We show that the experimentally accessible scattering cross section exhibits universal Ericson fluctuations, with characteristic properties rooted in the underlying classical field equations.
Bose polarons as relativistic Unruh-DeWitt detectors: Entanglement harvesting from Bose-Einstein condensates
Nordita, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University(诺尔迪塔,皇家理工学院和斯德哥尔摩大学);Kirchhoff-Institut für Physik, Universität Heidelberg(基希霍夫物理研究所,海德堡大学)
I introduce two family of exactly solvable models for multiatomic hetero-nuclear and homo-nuclear molecular Bose-Einstein condensates through the algebraic Bethe ansatz method. The conserved quantities of the respective models are also showed.