We present a technique to diagnose the condensate fraction in a one-dimensional optical lattice of weakly interacting bosons based on the dynamics of the trapped atoms under the influence of a momentum kick. It is shown using the Multi-Configuration Time Dependent Hartree method for Bosons (MCTDHB) that the two extreme cases of the superfluid and Mott insulator states exhibit different behaviors when the lattice is briefly tilted. The current induced by the momentum boost caused by the tilt which depends directly on the amount of phase coherence between the lattice sites is linearly proportional to the condensate fraction. The atom-atom interactions only change the slope of the linear relationship. We discuss the applications of this scheme in magnetic field gradiometery.
These notes were written for a set of three lectures given in a school at the Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems in October/2017 before the workshop Critical Stability of Quantum Few-Body Systems. These lectures are primarily dedicated to the students and represent a very idiosyncratic vision of the author, mainly in the last part of the text related to applications. These notes are only a tentative to show a technique, among many others, to solve problems in a very rich area of the contemporary physics - the Few-Body Physics - many times unknown by a considerable part of the students.
We propose a method to probe time dependent correlations of non trivial observables in many-body ultracold lattice gases. The scheme uses a quantum non-demolition matter-light interface, first, to map the observable of interest on the many body system into the light and, then, to store coherently such information into an external system acting as a quantum memory. Correlations of the observable at two (or more) instances of time are retrieved with a single final measurement that includes the readout of the quantum memory. Such method brings at reach the study of dynamics of many-body systems in and out of equilibrium by means of quantum memories in the field of quantum simulators.
Chimera states are complex spatiotemporal patterns in networks of identical oscillators, characterized by the coexistence of synchronized and desynchronized dynamics. Here we propose to extend the phenomenon of chimera states to the quantum regime, and uncover intriguing quantum signatures of these states. We calculate the quantum fluctuations about semiclassical trajectories and demonstrate that chimera states in the quantum regime can be characterized by bosonic squeezing, weighted quantum correlations, and measures of mutual information. Our findings reveal the relation of chimera states to quantum information theory, and give promising directions for experimental realization of chimera states in quantum systems.
Quantum spin liquids, exotic phases of matter with topological order, have been a major focus of explorations in physical science for the past several decades. Such phases feature long-range quantum entanglement that can potentially be exploited to realize robust quantum computation. We use a 219-atom programmable quantum simulator to probe quantum spin liquid states. In our approach, arrays of atoms are placed on the links of a kagome lattice and evolution under Rydberg blockade creates frustrated quantum states with no local order. The onset of a quantum spin liquid phase of the paradigmatic toric code type is detected by evaluating topological string operators that provide direct signatures of topological order and quantum correlations. Its properties are further revealed by using an atom array with nontrivial topology, representing a first step towards topological encoding. Our observations enable the controlled experimental exploration of topological quantum matter and protected quantum information processing.
Quantum interferometers are generally set so that phase differences between paths in coordinate space combine constructive or destructively. Indeed, the interfering paths can also meet in momentum space leading to momentum-space fringes. We propose and analyze a method to produce interference in momentum space by phase-imprinting part of a trapped atomic cloud with a detuned laser. For one-particle wave functions analytical expressions are found for the fringe width and shift versus the phase imprinted. The effects of unsharpness or displacement of the phase jump are also studied, as well as many-body effects to determine the potential applicability of momentum-space interferometry.