We optimize number squeezing when splitting a mesoscopic Bose Einstein condensate. Applying optimal control theory to a realistic description of the condensate allowed us to identify a form of the splitting ramp which drastically outperforms the adiabatic splitting. The results can be interpreted in terms of a generic two-mode model mapped onto a parametric harmonic oscillator. This optimal route to squeezing paves the way to a much longer phase coherence and atom interferometry close to the Heisenberg limit.
Entanglement, a key feature of quantum mechanics, is a resource that allows the improvement of precision measurements beyond the conventional bound reachable by classical means. This is known as the standard quantum limit, already defining the accura
cy of the best available sensors for various quantities such as time or position. Many of these sensors are interferometers in which the standard quantum limit can be overcome by feeding their two input ports with quantum-entangled states, in particular spin squeezed states. For atomic interferometers, Bose-Einstein condensates of ultracold atoms are considered good candidates to provide such states involving a large number of particles. In this letter, we demonstrate their experimental realization by splitting a condensate in a few parts using a lattice potential. Site resolved detection of the atoms allows the measurement of the conjugated variables atom number difference and relative phase. The observed fluctuations imply entanglement between the particles, a resource that would allow a precision gain of 3.8 dB over the standard quantum limit for interferometric measurements.
A superconducting single-electron transistor (SSET) coupled to an anharmonic oscillator, e.g., a Josephson junction-L-C circuit, can drive the latter to a nonequilibrium photon number state. By biasing the SSET in a regime where the current is carrie
d by a combination of inelastic quasiparticle tunneling and coherent Cooper-pair tunneling (Josephson quasiparticle cycle), cooling of the oscillator as well as a laser like enhancement of the photon number can be achieved. Here we show, that the cut-off in the quasiparticle tunneling rate due to the superconducting gap, in combination with the anharmonicity of the oscillator, may create strongly squeezed photon number distributions. For low dissipation in the oscillator nearly pure Fock states can be produced.
We present an in-situ study of an optical lattice with tunneling and single lattice site resolution. This system provides an important step for realizing a quantum computer. The real-space images show the fluctuations of the atom number in each site.
The sub-Poissonian distribution results from the approach to the Mott insulator state, combined with the dynamics of density-dependent losses, which result from the high densities of optical lattice experiments. These losses are clear from the shape of the lattice profile. Furthermore, we find that the lattice is not in the ground state despite the momentum distribution which shows the reciprocal lattice. These effects may well be relevant for other optical lattice experiments, past and future. The lattice beams are derived from a microlens array, resulting in lattice beams which are perfectly stable relative to one another.
We theoretically analyze atom interferometry based on trapped ultracold atoms, and employ optimal control theory in order to optimize number squeezing and condensate trapping. In our simulations, we consider a setup where the confinement potential is
transformed from a single to a double well, which allows to split the condensate. To avoid in the ensuing phase-accumulation stage of the interferometer dephasing due to the nonlinear atom-atom interactions, the atom number fluctuations between the two wells should be sufficiently low. We show that low number fluctuations (high number squeezing) can be obtained by optimized splitting protocols. Two types of solutions are found: in the Josephson regime we find an oscillatory tunnel control and a parametric amplification of number squeezing, while in the Fock regime squeezing is obtained solely due to the nonlinear coupling, which is transformed to number squeezing by peaked tunnel pulses. We study splitting and squeezing within the frameworks of a generic two-mode model, which allows us to study the basic physical mechanisms, and the multi-configurational time dependent Hartree for bosons method, which allows for a microscopic modeling of the splitting dynamics in realistic experiments. Both models give similar results, thus highlighting the general nature of these two solution schemes. We finally analyze our results in the context of atom interferometry.
We measured the relative phase of two Bose-Einstein condensates confined in an radio frequency induced double well potential on an atom chip. We observed phase coherence between the separated condensates for times up to 200 ms after splitting, a fact
or of 10 beyond the phase diffusion limit expected for a coherent state in our experimental conditions (20 ms). The enhanced coherence time is attributed to number squeezing of the initial state by a factor of 10. In addition, we demonstrated a rotationally sensitive (Sagnac) geometry for a guided atom interferometer by propagating the split condensates.