Matter-wave diffraction in time with a linear potential

Diffraction in time of matter waves incident on a shutter which is removed at time $t=0$ is studied in the presence of a linear potential. The solution is also discussed in phase space in terms of the Wigner function. An alternative configuration relevant to current experiments where particles are released from a hard wall trap is also analyzed for single-particle states and for a Tonks-Girardeau gas.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Reflection of a Lieb-Liniger wave packet from the hard-wall potential

Nonequilibrium dynamics of a Lieb-Liniger system in the presence of the hard-wall potential is studied. We demonstrate that a time-dependent wave function, which describes quantum dynamics of a Lieb-Liniger wave packet comprised of N particles, can be found by solving an $N$-dimensional Fourier transform; this follows from the symmetry properties of the many-body eigenstates in the presence of the hard-wall potential. The presented formalism is employed to numerically calculate reflection of a few-body wave packet from the hard wall for various interaction strengths and incident momenta.Comment: revised version, improved notation, Fig. 5 adde

Shortcuts to adiabaticity in a time-dependent box

A method is proposed to drive an ultrafast non-adiabatic dynamics of an ultracold gas trapped in a box potential. The resulting state is free from spurious excitations associated with the breakdown of adiabaticity, and preserves the quantum correlations of the initial state up to a scaling factor. The process relies on the existence of an adiabatic invariant and the inversion of the dynamical self-similar scaling law dictated by it. Its physical implementation generally requires the use of an auxiliary expulsive potential analogous to those used in soliton control. The method is extended to a broad family of many-body systems. As illustrative examples we consider the ultrafast expansion of a Tonks-Girardeau gas and of Bose-Einstein condensates in different dimensions, where the method exhibits an excellent robustness against different regimes of interactions and the features of an experimentally realizable box potential.Comment: 6 pp, 4 figures, typo in Eq. (6) fixe

Exact propagators for atom-laser interactions

A class of exact propagators describing the interaction of an $N$-level atom with a set of on-resonance $\delta$-lasers is obtained by means of the Laplace transform method. State-selective mirrors are described in the limit of strong lasers. The ladder, V and $\Lambda$ configurations for a three-level atom are discussed. For the two level case, the transient effects arising as result of the interaction between both a semi-infinite beam and a wavepacket with the on-resonance laser are examined.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

One-dimensional anyons with competing δ\delta-function and derivative δ\delta-function potentials

We propose an exactly solvable model of one-dimensional anyons with competing $\delta$-function and derivative $\delta$-function interaction potentials. The Bethe ansatz equations are derived in terms of the $N$-particle sector for the quantum anyonic field model of the generalized derivative nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation. This more general anyon model exhibits richer physics than that of the recently studied one-dimensional model of $\delta$-function interacting anyons. We show that the anyonic signature is inextricably related to the velocities of the colliding particles and the pairwise dynamical interaction between particles.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, minor changes, references update

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%.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figure

Completing the nuclear reaction puzzle of the nucleosynthesis of 92Mo

One of the greatest questions for modern physics to address is how elements heavier than iron are created in extreme, astrophysical environments. A particularly challenging part of that question is the creation of the so-called p-nuclei, which are believed to be mainly produced in some types of supernovae. The lack of needed nuclear data presents an obstacle in nailing down the precise site and astrophysical conditions. In this work, we present for the first time measurements on the nuclear level density and average strength function of $^{92}$Mo. State-of-the-art p-process calculations systematically underestimate the observed solar abundance of this isotope. Our data provide stringent constraints on the $^{91}$Nb$(p,{\gamma})^{92}$Mo reaction rate, which is the last unmeasured reaction in the nucleosynthesis puzzle of $^{92}$Mo. Based on our results, we conclude that the $^{92}$Mo abundance anomaly is not due to the nuclear physics input to astrophysical model calculations.Comment: Submitted to PR

Adiabatic dynamics of an inhomogeneous quantum phase transition: the case of z > 1 dynamical exponent

We consider an inhomogeneous quantum phase transition across a multicritical point of the XY quantum spin chain. This is an example of a Lifshitz transition with a dynamical exponent z = 2. Just like in the case z = 1 considered in New J. Phys. 12, 055007 (2010) when a critical front propagates much faster than the maximal group velocity of quasiparticles vq, then the transition is effectively homogeneous: density of excitations obeys a generalized Kibble-Zurek mechanism and scales with the sixth root of the transition rate. However, unlike for z = 1, the inhomogeneous transition becomes adiabatic not below vq but a lower threshold velocity v', proportional to inhomogeneity of the transition, where the excitations are suppressed exponentially. Interestingly, the adiabatic threshold v' is nonzero despite vanishing minimal group velocity of low energy quasiparticles. In the adiabatic regime below v' the inhomogeneous transition can be used for efficient adiabatic quantum state preparation in a quantum simulator: the time required for the critical front to sweep across a chain of N spins adiabatically is merely linear in N, while the corresponding time for a homogeneous transition across the multicritical point scales with the sixth power of N. What is more, excitations after the adiabatic inhomogeneous transition, if any, are brushed away by the critical front to the end of the spin chain.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, improved version accepted in NJ