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Correlations in atomic systems: Diagnosing coherent superpositions

Radka Bach·Kazimierz Rzazewski
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Abstract

While investigating quantum correlations in atomic systems, we note that single measurements contain information about these correlations. Using a simple model of measurement -- analogous to the one used in quantum optics -- we show how to extract higher order correlation functions from individual "phtotographs" of the atomic sample. As a possible application we apply the method to detect a subtle phase coherence in mesoscopic superpostitions.

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Radka Bach, Kazimierz Rzazewski. 2004-03-22. Correlations in atomic systems: Diagnosing coherent superpositions. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.92.200401

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