19 research outputs found
Decoherence in Bose-Einstein Condensates: towards Bigger and Better Schroedinger Cats
We consider a quantum superposition of Bose-Einstein condensates in two
immiscible internal states. A decoherence rate for the resulting Schroedinger
cat is calculated and shown to be a significant threat to this macroscopic
quantum superposition of BEC's. An experimental scenario is outlined where the
decoherence rate due to the thermal cloud is dramatically reduced thanks to
trap engineering and "symmetrization" of the environment which allow for the
Schroedinger cat to be an approximate pointer states.Comment: 12 pages in RevTex; improved presentation; a new comment on
decoherence-free pointer subspaces in BEC; accepted in Phys.Rev.
Ideal Gases in Time-Dependent Traps
We investigate theoretically the properties of an ideal trapped gas in a
time-dependent harmonic potential. Using a scaling formalism, we are able to
present simple analytical results for two important classes of experiments:
free expansion of the gas upon release of the trap; and the response of the gas
to a harmonic modulation of the trapping potential is investigated. We present
specific results relevant to current experiments on trapped Fermions.Comment: 5 pages, 3 eps figure
Scattering of light and atoms in a Fermi-Dirac gas with BCS pairing
We theoretically study the optical properties of a Fermi-Dirac gas in the
presence of a superfluid state. We calculate the leading quantum-statistical
corrections to the standard column density result of the electric
susceptibility. We also consider the Bragg diffraction of atoms by means of
light-stimulated transitions of photons between two intersecting laser beams.
Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer pairing between atoms in different internal levels
magnifies incoherent scattering processes. The absorption linewidth of a
Fermi-Dirac gas is broadened and shifted. Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer pairing
introduces a collisional local-field shift that may dramatically dominate the
Lorentz-Lorenz shift. For the case of the Bragg spectroscopy the static
structure function may be significantly increased due to superfluidity in the
nearforward scattering.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures; to appear in PR
Quasi-spin Model for Macroscopic Quantum Tunnelling between Two Coupled Bose-Einstein Condensates
The macroscopic quantum tunneling between two coupled Bose-Einstein
condensates (BEC) (radio-frequency coupled two-component BECs or two BECs
confined in a double-well potential) is mapped onto the tunneling of an
uniaxial spin with an applied magnetic field. The tunneling exponent is
calculated with an imaginary-time path-integral method. In the limit of low
barrier, the dependence of tunneling exponent on the system parameters is
obtained, and the crossover temperature from thermal regime to quantum regime
is estimated. The detailed information about the tunnelling will give help to
control population conversion between coupled BECs and realize quantum
computation with coupled BECs.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Phys.Rev.
Vortices in superfluid trapped Fermi gases at zero temperature
We discuss various aspects of the vortex state of a dilute superfluid atomic
Fermi gas at T=0. The energy of the vortex in a trapped gas is calculated and
we provide an expression for the thermodynamic critical rotation frequency of
the trap for its formation. Furthermore, we propose a method to detect the
presence of a vortex by calculating the effect of its associated velocity field
on the collective mode spectrum of the gas
Rotating spin-1 bosons in the lowest Landau level
We present results for the ground states of a system of spin-1 bosons in a
rotating trap. We focus on the dilute, weakly interacting regime, and restrict
the bosons to the quantum states in the lowest Landau level (LLL) in the plane
(disc), sphere or torus geometries. We map out parts of the zero temperature
phase diagram, using both exact quantum ground states and LLL mean field
configurations. For the case of a spin-independent interaction we present exact
quantum ground states at angular momentum . For general values of the
interaction parameters, we present mean field studies of general ground states
at slow rotation and of lattices of vortices and skyrmions at higher rotation
rates. Finally, we discuss quantum Hall liquid states at ultra-high rotation.Comment: 24 pages, 14 figures, RevTe