SearcharxivSearch

arXiv · cond-mat/9708089

Macroscopic superpositions of Bose-Einstein condensates

Abstract

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 the measurements of the scattered photons lead to a randomly drifting relative phase and drive the condensates into entangled superpositions of number states. This is because according to Bose-Einstein statistics the scattering to an already occupied state is enhanced.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Janne Ruostekoski, M. J. Collett, Robert Graham, Dan F. Walls. 1997-08-13. Macroscopic superpositions of Bose-Einstein condensates. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.57.511

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Towards quantum well hot hole lasers

It should be possible to improve hot-hole laser performance by moving from bulk materials to a quantum well structure. The extra design parameters enable us to alter the band structure by changing the crystal orientation of the growth direction; to use the well width to shift the subband offsets, enabling the effect of the LO phonon scattering cut-off to be controlled; and to use modulation doping to ensure a high hole concentration to increase the gain without the dopants being present in the gain region. We present the first simulations of THz quantum well hot-hole lasers that can produce inversion and optical gain.

cond-mat

Elastic response of [111]-tunneling impurities

We study the dynamic response of a [111] quantum impurity, such as lithium or cyanide in alkali halides, with respect to an external field coupling to the elastic quadrupole moment. Because of the particular level structure of a eight-state system on a cubic site, the elastic response function shows a biexponential relaxation feature and a van Vleck type contribution with a resonance frequency that is twice the tunnel frequency $Δ/\hbar$. This basically differs from the dielectric response that does not show relaxation. Moreover, we show that the elastic response of a [111] impurity cannot be reduced to that of a two-level system. In the experimental part, we report on recent sound velocity and internal friction measurements on KCl doped with cyanide at various concentrations. At low doping (45 ppm) we find the dynamics of a single [111] impurity, whereas at higher concentrations (4700 ppm) the elastic response rather indicates strongly correlated defects. Our theoretical model provides a good description of the temperature dependence of $δv/v$ and $Q^{-1}$ at low doping, in particular the relaxation peaks, the absolute values of the amplitude, and the resonant contributions. From our fits we obtain the value of the elastic deformation potential $γ_t=0.192$ eV.

cond-mat