Search

We study the ultimate bounds on the sensitivity of a Bloch-oscillation atom interferometer where the external force is estimated from the measurement of the on-site atomic density. For external forces such that the energy difference between lattice sites is smaller than the tunneling energy, the atomic wave-function spreads over many lattice sites, increasing the separation between the occupied modes of the lattice and naturally enhancing the sensitivity of the interferometer. To investigate the applicability of this scheme we estimate the effect of uncontrolled fluctuations of the tunneling energy and the finite resolution of the atom detection. Our analysis shows that a horizontal lattice combined with a weak external force allow for high sensitivities. Therefore, this setup is a promising solution for compact devices or for measurements with high spatial resolution., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures

We consider a hybrid system of matter and light as a sensing device and quantify the role of cooperative effects. The latter generically enhance the precision with which modifications of the effective light-matter coupling constant can be measured. In particular, considering a fundamental model of $N$ qubits coupled to a single electromagnetic mode, we show that the ultimate bound for the precision shows double-Heisenberg scaling: $\Delta\theta\propto1/(Nn)$, with $N$ and $n$ being the number of qubits and photons, respectively. Moreover, even using classical states and measuring only one subsystem, a Heisenberg-times-shot-noise scaling, i.e. $1/(N\sqrt{n})$ or $1/(n\sqrt{N})$, is reached. As an application, we show that a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a double-well potential within an optical cavity can detect the gravitational acceleration $g$ with the relative precision of $\Delta g/g\simeq10^{-9}\text{Hz}^{-1/2}$. The analytical approach presented in this study takes into account the leakage of photons through the cavity mirrors, and allows to determine the sensitivity when $g$ is inferred via measurements on atoms or photons., Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures

We show that matter-wave interference fringes formed by two overlapping atomic clouds can yield information about the non-local Bell correlations. To this end, we consider a simple atomic interferometer, where the clouds are released from the double-well potential and the relative phase is estimated from the density fit to this interference pattern. The Bell correlations can be deduced from the sensitivity of the phase obtained in this way. We examine the relation between these two quantities for a wide range of ground states of the double-well, scanning through the attractive and the repulsive interactions. The presented analysis includes the effects of finite temperature, when excited states are thermally occupied. We also consider the impact of the spatial resolution of the single-atom detectors and the fluctuations of the energy mismatch between the wells. These results establish a link between the fundamental (non-locality) and application-oriented (quantum metrology) aspects of entanglement., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures

The violation of a Bell inequality is a striking demonstration of how quantum mechanics contradicts local realism. Although the original argument was presented with a pair of spin 1/2 particles, so far Bell inequalities have been shown to be violated using entangled pairs of photons, with recent measurements closing all possible loopholes in such a scheme. Equivalent demonstrations using massive particles have proven to be much more challenging, generally relying on post-selection of data or measuring an entanglement witness that relies on quantum mechanics. Here, we use a collision between two Bose-Einstein condensates to generate the momentum-spin entangled pairs of ultracold helium atoms. We show that a maximally entangled Bell triplet state results and report a direct observation of a strong Bell correlation witness. Based on the high degree of entanglement and the controllability of ultracold atomic systems, extensions to this scheme would allow a demonstration of nonlocality with massive entangled pairs, following the original idea of Bell. Other applications include the demonstration of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox, quantum metrology and tests of phenomena from exotic theories sensitive to such systems including gravitational decoherence and quantum gravity.

We propose an experiment, where the Bell inequality is violated in a many-body system of massive particles. The source of correlated atoms is a spinor $F=1$ Bose-Einstein condensate residing in an optical lattice. We characterize the complete experimental procedure--- the local operations, the measurements and the inequality---necessary to run the Bell test. We show how the degree of violation of the Bell inequality depends on the strengths of the two-body correlations and on the number of scattered pairs. We show that the system can be used to demonstrate the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen paradox. Also, the scattered pairs are an excellent many-body resource for the quantum-enhanced metrology. With the possibility to generalize our analysis to other configurations in a straightforward way, the presented inquiry can be important in the planning of the forthcoming Bell tests in correlated atomic systems., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

We consider the situation when the signal propagating through each arm of an interferometer has a complicated multi-mode structure. We find the relation between the particle-entanglement and the possibility to surpass the shot-noise limit of the phase estimation. Our results are general---they apply to pure and mixed states of identical and distinguishable particles (or combinations of both), for a fixed and fluctuating number of particles. We also show that the method for detecting the entanglement often used in two-mode system can give misleading results when applied to the multi-mode case., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

We propose an enhanced optical interferometer based on tailored non-classical light generated by nonlinear dynamics and projective measurements in a three-level atom cavity QED system. A coherent state in the cavity becomes dynamically entangled with two ground states of the atom and is transformed to a macroscopic superposition state via a projective measurement on the atom. We show that the resulting highly non-classical state can improve interferometric precision measurements well beyond the shot-noise limit once combined with a classical laser pulse at the input of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer. For a practical implementation, we identify an efficient phase shift estimation scheme based on the counting of photons at the interferometer output. Photon losses and photon-counting errors deteriorate the interferometer sensitivity, but we demonstrate that it still can be significantly better than the shot-noise limit under realistic conditions., Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures

Entanglement between two separate systems is a necessary resource to violate a Bell inequality in a test of local realism. We demonstrate that to overcome the Bell bound, this correlation must be accompanied by the entanglement between the constituent particles. This happens whenever a super-selection rule imposes a constraint on feasible local operations. As we show in an example, the necessary particle entanglement might solely result from their indistinguishability. Our result reveals a fundamental relation between the non-locality and the particle entanglement., Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure

Preparation of a non-classically correlated state is the first step of any quantum-enhanced interferometric protocol. An efficient method is the one-axis twisting, which entangles a collection of initially uncorrelated particles by means of two-body interactions. Here we investigate the limits of the quantum improvement which can be reached with this method in realistic experimental conditions. We demonstrate that the usefulness of this entangling mechanism is a result of fine structures introduced into the quantum state. The scale at which these structures vary allows us to identify the minimal requirements for the precision of the complete interferometric sequence. Our results---especially the explanation of the underlying principle of the entangling method---may help to develop ultra-precise interferometers., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures

Basing on the analogy between the coherent states of light and separable states of $N$ bosons, we demonstrate that the violation Cauchy-Schwarz inequality for any-order correlation function signals the entanglement among the constituent particles. Rather than restricting to the correlations between the positions of particles, we consider the broadest set of measurements allowed by quantum mechanics. Our result is general -- it applies to any quantum system of bosons, even when the number of particles is not fixed, provided that there is no coherence between different number states. We also demonstrate that the compact expression for the separable state of bosons can be used to relate some known metrological quantities to the particle entanglement in a very simple way., Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure

We show that it is possible to reach the sub shot-noise sensitivity of the phase estimation using two independently prepared Bose-Einstein condensates as an input of an interferometer. In this scenario, the quantum correlations between the particles, which are necessary to beat the shot-noise limit, arise from the indistinguishability of bosons. Allowing for atom number fluctuations independently in each condensate, we calculate the ultimate bound of the sensitivity. Our main conclusion is that even in presence of major atom number fluctuations, an interferometer operating on two independent condensates can give very high sensitivity. We also show that the estimation from the measurement of the number of atoms utilizes these quantum correlations. This observation, in context of recent measurement of the Fisher information in a many-body system [H. Strobel {\it et al}, Science {\bf 345}, 424 (2014)], opens the way towards the construction of a new type of an interferometer operating below the shot-noise limit., Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures

The Glauber-Sudarshan $P$-representation is used in quantum optics to distinguish between semi-classical and genuinely quantum electromagnetic fields. We employ the analog of the $P$-representation to show that the violation of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality for the second-order correlation function is a proof of entanglement between identical massive bosons. The presented derivation is valid both in systems with fixed and fluctuating number of particles. Thanks to the recent advances in techniques of detecting positions of separate particles, the violation of the Cauchy-Schwarz inequality can be used as a simple entanglement criterion in various many-body quantum systems., Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure

We review the Bogoliubov theory in the context of recent experiments, where atoms are scattered from a Bose-Einstein Condensate into two well-separated regions. We find the full dynamics of the pair-production process, calculate the first and second order correlation functions and show that the system is ideally number-squeezed. We calculate the Fisher information to show how the entanglement between the atoms from the two regions changes in time. We also provide a simple expression for the lower bound of the useful entanglement in the system in terms of the average number of scattered atoms and the number of modes they occupy. We then apply our theory to a recent "twin-beam" experiment [R. B\"ucker {\it et al.}, Nat. Phys. {\bf 7}, 608 (2011)]. The only numerical step of our semi-analytical description can be easily solved and does not require implementation of any stochastic methods., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures

We identify optimal measurement strategies for phase estimation in different scenarios. For pure states of a single qubit, we show that optimal measurements form a broad set parametrized with a continuous variable. When the state is mixed this set reduces to merely two possible measurements. For two qubits, we focus on the symmetric Werner state. We find an optimal measurement and show that estimation from the population imbalance is optimal only if the state is pure. Finally, for a pure state of $N$ qubits, we finds under which conditions the estimation from the full $N$-body correlation and from the population imbalance are optimal., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures

We investigate the factors that influence the usefulness of supersonic collisions of Bose-Einstein condensates as a potential source of entangled atomic pairs by analyzing the reduction of the number difference fluctuations between regions of opposite momenta. We show that non-monochromaticity of the mother clouds is typically the leading limitation on number squeezing, and that the squeezing becomes less robust to this effect as the density of pairs grows. We develop a simple model that explains the relationship between density correlations and the number squeezing, allows one to estimate the squeezing from properties of the correlation peaks, and shows how the multi-mode nature of the scattering must be taken into account to understand the behavior of the pairing. We analyze the impact of the Bose enhancement on the number squeezing, by introducing a simplified low-gain model. We conclude that as far as squeezing is concerned the preferable configuration occurs when atoms are scattered not uniformly but rather into two well separated regions., Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, final version

We demonstrate that memory in an $N$-qubit system subjected to decoherence, is a potential resource for the slow-down of the entanglement decay. We show that this effect can be used to retain the sub shot-noise sensitivity of the parameter estimation in quantum interferometry. We calculate quantum Fisher information, which sets the ultimate bound for the precision of the estimation. We also derive the sensitivity of such a noisy interferometer, when the phase is either estimated from the measurements of the population imbalance or from the one-body density., Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures

We study an ultra-cold gas of $N$ bosons trapped in a one dimensional $M$-site optical lattice perturbed by a spatially dependent potential $g\cdot x^j$, where the unknown coupling strength $g$ is to be estimated. We find that the measurement uncertainty is bounded by $\Delta g\propto\frac1{N (M^j-1)}$. For a typical case of a linear potential, the sensitivity improves as $M^{-1}$, which is a result of multiple interferences between the sites -- an advantage of multi-path interferometers over the two-mode setups. Next, we calculate the estimation sensitivity for a specific measurement where, after the action of the potential, the particles are released from the lattice and form an interference pattern. If the parameter is estimated by a least-square fit of the average density to the interference pattern, the sensitivity still scales like $M^{-1}$ for linear potentials and can be further improved by preparing a properly correlated initial state in the lattice., Comment: 11 pages, 3 fugires

It is demonstrated that measurements of positions of atoms scattered from a quasi-condensate in a Raman process provide information on the temperature of the parent cloud. In particular, the widths of the density and second order correlation functions are sensitive to the phase fluctuations induced by non-zero temperature of the quasi-condensate. It is also shown how these widths evolve during expansion of the cloud of scattered atoms. These results are useful for planning future Raman scattering experiments and indicate the degree of spatial resolution of atom-position measurements necessary to detect the temperature dependence of the quasi-condensate., Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures

We formulate the time-dependent Bogoliubov dynamics of colliding Bose-Einstein condensates in terms of a positive-P representation of the Bogoliubov field. We obtain stochastic evolution equations for the field which converge to the full Bogoliubov description as the number of realisations grows. The numerical effort grows linearly with the size of the computational lattice. We benchmark the efficiency and accuracy of our description against Wigner distribution and exact positive-P methods. We consider its regime of applicability, and show that it is the most efficient method in the common situation - when the total particle number in the system is insufficient for a truncated Wigner treatment., Comment: 9 pages. 5 figures

We consider the collision of two Bose Einstein condensates at supersonic velocities and focus on the halo of scattered atoms. This halo is the most important feature for experiments and is also an excellent testing ground for various theoretical approaches. In particular we find that the typical reduced Bogoliubov description, commonly used, is often not accurate in the region of parameters where experiments are performed. Surprisingly, besides the halo pair creation terms, one should take into account the evolving mean field of the remaining condensate and on-condensate pair creation. We present examples where the difference is clearly seen, and where the reduced description still holds., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures

We report on our study of the free-fall expansion of a finite-temperature Bose-Einstein condensed cloud of 87Rb. The experiments are performed with a variable total number of atoms while keeping constant the number of atoms in the condensate. The results provide evidence that the BEC dynamics depends on the interaction with thermal fraction. In particular, they provide experimental evidence that thermal cloud compresses the condensate., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

We apply an analytical model for anisotropic, colliding Bose-Einstein condensates in a spontaneous four wave mixing geometry to evaluate the second order correlation function of the field of scattered atoms. Our approach uses quantized scattering modes and the equivalent of a classical, undepleted pump approximation. Results to lowest order in perturbation theory are compared with a recent experiment and with other theoretical approaches., Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures

We consider a Bose gas with an attractive interaction in a symmetric double well potential. In the Hartree approximation, the ground state solution spontaneously breaks the symmetry of the trapping potential above certain value of the interaction strength. We demonstrate how the Landau-Ginzburg scheme of the second order phase transition emerges from the quantum model and show its link to the spontaneous symmetry breaking mentioned above. We identify the order parameter, the critical point and analyze quantum fluctuations around it.

We propose a method for simulating a single realization of a collision of two Bose--Einstein condensates. Recently in Zi\'{n} {\it et al.} (Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 94}, 200401 (2005)) we introduced a quantum model of an incoherent elastic scattering in a collision of two counter-propagating atomic Gaussian wavepackets. Here show that this model is capable of generating the data that can be interpreted as results of a single collision event. We find a range of parameters, including relative velocity, population and the size of colliding condensates, where the structure of hallo of scattered atoms in a single realization strongly differs from that averaged over many realizations., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure

Mean field approximation treats only coherent aspects of the evolution of a Bose Einstein condensate. However, in many experiments some atoms scatter out of the condensate. We study an analytic model of two counter-propagating atomic Gaussian wavepackets incorporating dynamics of incoherent scattering processes. Within the model we can treat processes of elastic collision of atoms into the initially empty modes, and observe how, with growing occupation, the bosonic enhancement is slowly kicking in. A condition for bosonic enhancement effect is found in terms of relevant parameters. Scattered atoms form a squeezed state that can be viewed as a multi-component condensate. Not only are we able to calculate the dynamics of mode occupation, but also the full statistics of scattered atoms., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

We introduce a classical stochastic field method that accounts for the quantum fluctuations responsible for spontaneous initiation of various atom optics processes. We assume a delta-correlated Gaussian noise in all initially empty modes of atomic field. Its strength is determined by comparison with the analytical results for two colliding condensates in the low loss limit. Our method is applied to the atomic four wave mixing experiment performed at MIT [Vogels {\it et. al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 89}, 020401, (2002)], for the first time reproducing experimental data.