arXiv subjects

J. Schmiedmayer

Publications and source records attributed to J. Schmiedmayer.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2011

Dephasing in coherently-split quasicondensates

We numerically model the evolution of a pair of coherently split quasicondensates. A truly one-dimensional case is assumed, so that the loss of the (initially high) coherence between the two quasicondensates is due to dephasing only, but not due to the violation of integrability and subsequent thermalization (which are excluded from the present model). We confirm the subexponential time evolution of the coherence between two quasicondensates $\propto \exp [-(t/t_0)^{2/3}]$, experimentally observed by S. Hofferberth {\em et. al.}, Nature {\bf 449}, 324 (2007). The characteristic time $t_0$ is found to scale as the square of the ratio of the linear density of a quasicondensate to its temperature, and we analyze the full distribution function of the interference contrast and the decay of the phase correlation.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2011

Electron beam driven alkali metal atom source for loading a magneto-optical trap in a cryogenic environment

We present a versatile and compact electron beam driven source for alkali metal atoms, which can be implemented in cryostats. With a heat load of less than 10mW, the heat dissipation normalized to the atoms loaded into the magneto-optical Trap (MOT), is about a factor 1000 smaller than for a typical alkali metal dispenser. The measured linear scaling of the MOT loading rate with electron current observed in the experiments, indicates that electron stimulated desorption is the corresponding mechanism to release the atoms.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2010

Weakly interacting Bose gas in the one-dimensional limit

We prepare a chemically and thermally one-dimensional (1d) quantum degenerate Bose gas in a single microtrap. We introduce a new interferometric method to distinguish the quasicondensate fraction of the gas from the thermal cloud at finite temperature. We reach temperatures down to $kT\approx 0.5\hbarω_\perp$ (transverse oscillator eigenfrequency $ω_\perp$) when collisional thermalization slows down as expected in 1d. At the lowest temperatures the transverse momentum distribution exhibits a residual dependence on the line density $n_{1d}$, characteristic for 1d systems. For very low densities the approach to the transverse single particle ground state is linear in $n_{1d}$.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2010

Thermalization in a quasi-1D ultracold bosonic gas

We study the collisional processes that can lead to thermalization in one-dimensional systems. For two body collisions excitations of transverse modes are the prerequisite for energy exchange and thermalzation. At very low temperatures excitations of transverse modes are exponentially suppressed, thermalization by two body collisions stops and the system should become integrable. In quantum mechanics virtual excitations of higher radial modes are possible. These virtually excited radial modes give rise to effective three-body velocity-changing collisions which lead to thermalization. We show that these three-body elastic interactions are suppressed by pairwise quantum correlations when approaching the strongly correlated regime. If the relative momentum $k$ is small compared to the two-body coupling constant $c$ the three-particle scattering state is suppressed by a factor of $(k/c)^{12}$, which is proportional to $γ^{12}$, that is to the square of the three-body correlation function at zero distance in the limit of the Lieb-Liniger parameter $γ\gg 1$. This demonstrates that in one dimensional quantum systems it is not the freeze-out of two body collisions but the strong quantum correlations which ensures absence of thermalization on experimentally relevant time scales.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2010

Fluctuations and stochastic processes in one-dimensional many-body quantum systems

We study the fluctuation properties of a one-dimensional many-body quantum system composed of interacting bosons, and investigate the regimes where quantum noise or, respectively, thermal excitations are dominant. For the latter we develop a semiclassical description of the fluctuation properties based on the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck stochastic process. As an illustration, we analyze the phase correlation functions and the full statistical distributions of the interference between two one-dimensional systems, either independent or tunnel-coupled and compare with the Luttinger-liquid theory.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2010

RF-field-induced Feshbach resonances

A rigorous quantum theory of atomic collisions in the presence of radio frequency (rf) magnetic fields is developed and applied to elucidate the effects of combined dc and rf magnetic fields on elastic scattering in ultracold collisions of Rb atoms. We show that rf fields can be used to induce Feshbach resonances, which can be tuned by varying the amplitude and frequency of the rf field. The rf-induced Feshbach resonances occur also in collisions of atoms in low-field-seeking states at moderate rf field strengths easily available in atom chip experiments, which opens up the world of tunable interactions to magnetically trappable atomic quantum gases.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2010

Two-point density correlations of quasicondensates in free expansion

We measure the two-point density correlation function of freely expanding quasicondensates in the weakly interacting quasi-one-dimensional (1D) regime. While initially suppressed in the trap, density fluctuations emerge gradually during expansion as a result of initial phase fluctuations present in the trapped quasicondensate. Asymptotically, they are governed by the thermal coherence length of the system. Our measurements take place in an intermediate regime where density correlations are related to near-field diffraction effects and anomalous correlations play an important role. Comparison with a recent theoretical approach described by Imambekov et al. yields good agreement with our experimental results and shows that density correlations can be used for thermometry of quasicondensates.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2010

A single atom detector integrated on an atom chip: fabrication, characterization and application

We describe a robust and reliable fluorescence detector for single atoms that is fully integrated into an atom chip. The detector allows spectrally and spatially selective detection of atoms, reaching a single atom detection efficiency of 66%. It consists of a tapered lensed single-mode fiber for precise delivery of excitation light and a multi-mode fiber to collect the fluorescence. The fibers are mounted in lithographically defined holding structures on the atom chip. Neutral 87Rb atoms propagating freely in a magnetic guide are detected and the noise of their fluorescence emission is analyzed. The variance of the photon distribution allows to determine the number of detected photons / atom and from there the atom detection efficiency. The second order intensity correlation function of the fluorescence shows near-perfect photon anti-bunching and signs of damped Rabi-oscillations. With simple improvements one can boost the detection efficiency to > 95%.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2009

Single-particle-sensitive imaging of freely propagating ultracold atoms

We present a novel imaging system for ultracold quantum gases in expansion. After release from a confining potential, atoms fall through a sheet of resonant excitation laser light and the emitted fluorescence photons are imaged onto an amplified CCD camera using a high numerical aperture optical system. The imaging system reaches an extraordinary dynamic range, not attainable with conventional absorption imaging. We demonstrate single-atom detection for dilute atomic clouds with high efficiency where at the same time dense Bose-Einstein condensates can be imaged without saturation or distortion. The spatial resolution can reach the sampling limit as given by the 8 μm pixel size in object space. Pulsed operation of the detector allows for slice images, a first step toward a 3D tomography of the measured object. The scheme can easily be implemented for any atomic species and all optical components are situated outside the vacuum system. As a first application we perform thermometry on rubidium Bose-Einstein condensates created on an atom chip.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2009

Density ripples in expanding low-dimensional gases as a probe of correlations

We investigate theoretically the evolution of the two-point density correlation function of a low-dimensional ultracold Bose gas after release from a tight transverse confinement. In the course of expansion thermal and quantum fluctuations present in the trapped systems transform into density fluctuations. For the case of free ballistic expansion relevant to current experiments, we present simple analytical relations between the spectrum of ``density ripples'' and the correlation functions of the original confined systems. We analyze several physical regimes, including weakly and strongly interacting one-dimensional (1D) Bose gases and two-dimensional (2D) Bose gases below the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition. For weakly interacting 1D Bose gases, we obtain an explicit analytical expression for the spectrum of density ripples which can be used for thermometry. For 2D Bose gases below the BKT transition, we show that for sufficiently long expansion times the spectrum of the density ripples has a self-similar shape controlled only by the exponent of the first-order correlation function. This exponent can be extracted by analyzing the evolution of the spectrum of density ripples as a function of the expansion time.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2009

Ramsey's Method of Separated Oscillating Fields and its Application to Gravitationally Induced Quantum Phaseshifts

We propose to apply Ramsey's method of separated oscillating fields to the spectroscopy of the quantum states in the gravity potential above a vertical mirror. This method allows a precise measurement of quantum mechanical phaseshifts of a Schrödinger wave packet bouncing off a hard surface in the gravitational field of the earth. Measurements with ultra-cold neutrons will offer a sensitivity to Newton's law or hypothetical short-ranged interactions, which is about 21 orders of magnitude below the energy scale of electromagnetism.

nucl-ex↗

arXiv2009

An optical lattice on an atom chip

Optical dipole traps and atom chips are two very powerful tools for the quantum manipulation of neutral atoms. We demonstrate that both methods can be combined by creating an optical lattice potential on an atom chip. A red-detuned laser beam is retro-reflected using the atom chip surface as a high-quality mirror, generating a vertical array of purely optical oblate traps. We load thermal atoms from the chip into the lattice and observe cooling into the two-dimensional regime where the thermal energy is smaller than a quantum of transverse excitation. Using a chip-generated Bose-Einstein condensate, we demonstrate coherent Bloch oscillations in the lattice.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2009

Restoring integrability in one-dimensional quantum gases by two-particle correlations

We show that thermalization and the breakdown of integrability in the one dimensional Lieb-Liniger model caused by local three-body elastic interactions is suppressed by pairwise quantum correlations when approaching the strongly correlated regime. If the relative momentum $k$ is small compared to the two-body coupling constant $c$ the three-particle scattering state is suppressed by a factor of $(k/c)^{12}$. This demonstrates that in one dimensional quantum systems it is not the freeze-out of two body collisions but the strong quantum correlations which ensures integrability.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2009

Reversible state transfer between superconducting qubits and atomic ensembles

We examine the possibility of coherent, reversible information transfer between solid-state superconducting qubits and ensembles of ultra-cold atoms. Strong coupling between these systems is mediated by a microwave transmission line resonator that interacts near-resonantly with the atoms via their optically excited Rydberg states. The solid-state qubits can then be used to implement rapid quantum logic gates, while collective metastable states of the atoms can be employed for long-term storage and optical read-out of quantum information.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2008

Strong magnetic coupling of an ultracold gas to a superconducting waveguide cavity

Placing an ensemble of $10^6$ ultracold atoms in the near field of a superconducting coplanar waveguide resonator (CPWR) with $Q \sim 10^6$ one can achieve strong coupling between a single microwave photon in the CPWR and a collective hyperfine qubit state in the ensemble with $g_\textit{eff} / {2 π} \sim 40$ kHz larger than the cavity line width of $κ/{2 π} \sim 7$ kHz. Integrated on an atomchip such a system constitutes a hybrid quantum device, which also can be used to interconnect solid-state and atomic qubits, to study and control atomic motion via the microwave field, observe microwave super-radiance, build an integrated micro maser or even cool the resonator field via the atoms.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Creation of macroscopic quantum superposition states by a measurement

We propose a novel protocol for the creation of macroscopic quantum superposition (MQS) states based on a measurement of a non-monotonous function of a quantum collective variable. The main advantage of this protocol is that it does not require switching on and off nonlinear interactions in the system. We predict this protocol to allow the creation of multiatom MQS by measuring the number of atoms coherently outcoupled from a two-component (spinor) Bose-Einstein condensate.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2008

Dephasing in two decoupled one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates and the subexponential decay of the interwell coherence

We provide a simple physical picture of the loss of coherence between two coherently split one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates. The source of the dephasing is identified with nonlinear corrections to the elementary excitation energies in either of the two independent condensates. We retrieve the result by Burkov, Lukin and Demler [Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 200404 (2007)] on the subexponential decay of the cocherence for the large time, however, the scaling of the characteristic decoherence time differs.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2008

Microscopic atom optics: from wires to an atom chip

We give a comprehensive overview of the development of micro traps, from the first experiments on guiding atoms using current carrying wires in the early 1990's to the creation of a BEC on an atom chip.

quant-ph↗