Tunneling resonances and coherence in an optical lattice

The center-of-mass quantization of atoms trapped in a gray optical lattice is observed to manifest itself in the steady-state properties of the atoms. Modulations in the lifetime and macroscopic magnetization as a function of an applied B field are attributed to quantum mechanical tunneling resonances and are shown to exist only under conditions which afford spatial coherence of the trapped atoms over several lattice wells and coherence times that exceed the tunneling period.     

Phase control of nonadiabaticity-induced quantum chaos in an optical lattice

The qualitative nature (i.e., integrable vs chaotic) of the translational dynamics of a three-level atom in an optical lattice is shown to be controllable by varying the relative laser phase of two standing-wave lasers. Control is explained in terms of the nonadiabatic transition between optical potentials and the corresponding regular-to-chaotic transition in mixed classical-quantum dynamics. The results are of interest to both areas of coherent control and quantum chaos.     

Expansion of a quantum gas released from an optical lattice

We analyze the interference pattern produced by ultracold atoms released from an optical lattice, commonly interpreted as the momentum distributions of the trapped quantum gas. We show that for finite times of flight the resulting density distribution can, however, be significantly altered, similar to a near-field diffraction regime in optics. We illustrate our findings with a simple model and realistic quantum Monte Carlo simulations for bosonic atoms and compare the latter to experiments.     

Dynamic stimulation of quantum coherence in systems of lattice bosons

Thermal fluctuations tend to destroy long-range phase correlations. Consequently, bosons in a lattice will undergo a transition from a phase-coherent superfluid as the temperature rises. Contrary to common intuition, however, we show that nonequilibrium driving can be used to reverse this thermal decoherence. This is possible because the energy distribution at equilibrium is rarely optimal for the manifestation of a given quantum property. We demonstrate this in the Bose-Hubbard model by calculating the nonequilibrium spatial correlation function with periodic driving. We show that the nonequilibrium phase boundary between coherent and incoherent states at finite bath temperatures can be made qualitatively identical to the familiar zero-temperature phase diagram, and we discuss the experimental manifestation of this phenomenon in cold atoms.     

Polarization-sensitive quantum optical coherence tomography: Experiment

Polarization-sensitive quantum optical coherence tomography (PS-QOCT) makes use of a Type-II twin-photon light source for carrying out optical sectioning with polarization sensitivity. A BBO nonlinear optical crystal pumped by a Ti:sapphire psec-pulsed laser is used to confirm the theoretical underpinnings of this imaging paradigm. PS-QOCT offers even-order dispersion cancellation with simultaneous access to the group-velocity dispersion characteristics of the interstitial medium between the reflecting surfaces of the sample.     

Cold atom dynamics in a quantum optical lattice potential

We study a generalized cold atom Bose-Hubbard model, where the periodic optical potential is formed by a cavity field with quantum properties. On the one hand, the common coupling of all atoms to the same mode introduces cavity-mediated long-range atom-atom interactions, and, on the other hand, atomic backaction on the field introduces atom-field entanglement. This modifies the properties of the associated quantum phase transitions and allows for new correlated atom-field states, including superposition of different atomic quantum phases. After deriving an approximative Hamiltonian including the new long-range interaction terms, we exhibit central physical phenomena at generic configurations of few atoms in few wells. We find strong modifications of population fluctuations and next-nearest-neighbor correlations near the phase transition point.     

Requirement of optical coherence for continuous-variable quantum teleportation

We show that the sender and the receiver each require coherent devices in order to achieve unconditional continuous variable quantum teleportation (CVQT), and this requirement cannot be achieved with conventional laser sources, linear optics, ideal photon detectors, and perfect Fock state sources. The appearance of successful CVQT in recent experiments is due to interpreting the measurement record fallaciously in terms of one preferred ensemble (or decomposition) of the correct density matrix describing the state. Our analysis is unrelated to technical problems such as laser phase drift or finite squeezing bandwidth.     

Investigations of optical coherence properties in an erbium-doped silicate fiber for quantum state storage

We studied optical coherence properties of the 1.53 μm telecommunication transition in an Er³⁺-doped silicate optical fiber through spectral holeburning and photon echoes. We find decoherence times of up to 3.8 μs at a magnetic field of 2.2 T and a temperature of 150 mK. A strong magnetic-field dependent optical dephasing was observed and is believed to arise from an interaction between the electronic Er³⁺ spin and the magnetic moment of tunneling systems in the glass. Furthermore, we observed fine-structure in the Erbium holeburning spectrum originating from superhyperfine interaction with ²⁷Al host nuclei. Our results show that Er³⁺-doped silicate fibers are promising material candidates for quantum state storage.     

Mesoscopic quantum cryptography

Since a strictly single-photon source is not yet available, in quantum cryptography systems, one uses, as information quantum states, coherent radiation of a laser with an average number of photons of μ ≈ 0.1–0.5 in a pulse, attenuated to the quasi-single-photon level. The linear independence of a set of coherent quasi-single-photon information states leads to the possibility of unambiguous measurements that, in the presence of losses in the line, restrict the transmission range of secret keys. Starting from a certain value of critical loss (the length of the line), the eavesdropper knows the entire key, does not make errors, and is not detected—the distribution of secret keys becomes impossible. This problem is solved by introducing an additional reference state with an average number of photons of μ_cl ≈ 10³–10⁶, depending on the length of the communication line. It is shown that the use of a reference state does not allow the eavesdropper to carry out measurements with conclusive outcome while remaining undetected. A reference state guarantees detecting an eavesdropper in a channel with high losses. In this case, information states may contain a mesoscopic average number of photons in the range of μ _q ≈ 0.5–10². The protocol proposed is easy to implement technically, admits flexible adjustment of parameters to the length of the communication line, and is simple and transparent for proving the secrecy of keys.     

Oscillatory stability of quantum droplets in PT-symmetric optical lattice

We study stability and collisions of quantum droplets(QDs) forming in a binary bosonic condensate trapped in parity-time (PT)-symmetric optical lattices. It is found that the stability of QDs in the PT-symmetric system depends strongly on the values of the imaginary part W_0 of the PT-symmetric optical lattices, self-repulsion strength g, and the condensate norm N. As expected,the PT-symmetric QDs are entirely unstable in the broken PT-symmetric phase. However, the PT-symmetric QDs exhibit oscillatory stability with the increase of N and g in the unbroken PT-symmetric phase. Finally, collisions between PT-symmetric QDs are considered. The collisions of droplets with unequal norms are completely different from that in free space. Besides, a stable PT-symmetric QDs collides with an unstable ones tend to merge into breathers after the collision.     

Degeneracy of many-body quantum states in an optical lattice under a uniform magnetic field

We prove a theorem that shows the degeneracy of many-body states for particles in a periodic lattice and under a uniform magnetic field depends on the total particle number and the flux filling ratio. Noninteracting fermions and weakly interacting bosons are given as two examples. For the latter case, the phenomenon can also be physically understood in terms of destructive quantum interference of multiple symmetry-related tunneling paths between classical energy minima, which is reminiscent of the spin-parity effect discovered in magnetic molecular clusters. We also show that the quantum ground state of a mesoscopic number of bosons in this system is not a simple mean-field state but a fragmented state even for very weak interactions.     

Quantum simulation of quantum many-body systems with ultracold two-electron atoms in an optical lattice

Ultracold atoms in an optical lattice provide a unique approach to study quantum many-body systems, previously only possible by using condensed-matter experimental systems. This new approach, often called quantum simulation, becomes possible because of the high controllability of the system parameters and the inherent cleanness without lattice defects and impurities. In this article, we review recent developments in this rapidly growing field of ultracold atoms in an optical lattice, with special focus on quantum simulations using our newly created quantum many-body system of two-electron atoms of ytterbium. In addition, we also mention other interesting possibilities offered by this novel experimental platform, such as applications to precision measurements for studying fundamental physics and a Rydberg atom quantum computation.     

Rectifying fluctuations in an optical lattice

We have realized a Brownian motor by using cold atoms in a dissipative optical lattice as a model system. In our experiment the optical potential is spatially symmetric and the time symmetry of the system is broken by applying appropriate zero-mean ac forces. We identify a regime of rectification of forces and a regime of rectification of fluctuations, the latter corresponding to the realization of a Brownian motor.     

Interacting bosons in an optical lattice

A strongly interacting Bose gas in an optical lattice is studied using a hard‐core interaction. Two different approaches are introduced, one is based on a spin‐1/2 Fermi gas with attractive interaction, the other one on a functional integral with an additional constraint (slave‐boson approach). The relation between fermions and hard‐core bosons is briefly discussed for the case of a one‐dimensional Bose gas. For a three‐dimensional gas we identify the order parameter of the Bose‐Einstein condensate through a Hubbard‐Stratonovich transformation and treat the corresponding theories within a mean‐field approximation and with Gaussian fluctuations. This allows us to evaluate the phase diagram, including the Bose‐Einstein condensate and the Mott insulator, the density‐density correlation function, the static structure factor, and the quasiparticle excitation spectrum. The role of quantum and thermal fluctuations are studied in detail for both approaches, where we find good agreement with the Gross‐Pitaevskii equation and with the Bogoliubov approach in the dilute regime. In the dense regime, which is characterized by the phase transition between the Bose‐Einstein condensate and the Mott insulator, we discuss a renormalized Gross‐Pitaevskii equation. This equation can describe the macroscopic wave function of the Bose‐Einstein condensate in the dilute regime as well as close to the transition to the Mott insulator. Finally, we compare the results of the attractive spin‐1/2 Fermi gas and those of the slave‐boson approach and find good agreement for all physical quantities.     

Mechanical bistability in an optical lattice

A probed optical lattice is modelled as a driven anharmonic oscillator with noise. For specific values of the probe intensity and detuning, atoms are forced in bistable solutions. The friction and fluctuations that arise from laser cooling, determine the equilibrium between these two modes of vibration. The distribution determines the absorption spectrum and the transient emission spectrum that is emitted by the optical lattice after the probe has been switched off. Received 23 May 2000 and Received in final form 17 August 2000     

光晶格中的冷原子

光晶格是一种人造光晶体,它是由反向传播激光束干涉形成的周期性势阱构成的。光晶格的周期、势深等参量可以通过调节激光的强度和频率等来准确控制。作为一个纯净可控的实验平台,光晶格已经逐渐成长为模拟多体系统的最便利的工具之一。文章对光晶格中冷原子进行了简单的介绍,重点阐述了玻色—爱因斯坦凝聚、激光冷却、光晶格和量子相变等内容。     

Mesoscopic quadratic quantum measurements

We develop a theory of quadratic quantum measurements by a mesoscopic detector. It is shown that the quadratic measurements should have nontrivial quantum information properties, providing, for instance, a simple way of entangling two noninteracting qubits. We also calculate the output spectrum of a detector with both linear and quadratic response, continuously monitoring two qubits.     

Control of four-level quantum coherence via discrete spectral shaping of an optical frequency comb

We present experiments demonstrating high-resolution and wide-bandwidth coherent control of a four-level atomic system in a diamond configuration. A femtosecond frequency comb is used to excite a specific pair of two-photon transitions in cold 87Rb. The optical-phase-sensitive response of the closed-loop diamond system is studied by controlling the phase of the comb modes with a pulse shaper. Finally, the pulse shape is optimized resulting in a 256% increase in the two-photon transition rate by forcing constructive interference between the mode pairs detuned from an intermediate resonance.     

Influences of control coherence and decay coherence on optical bistability in a semiconductor quantum well

We discuss the influences of two different types of mechanisms of quantum coherence on optical bistability in a semiconductor quantum well structure.In the first mechanism,only quantum coherence induced by the resonant coupling of a strong control laser is considered.In the second mechanism,the decay coherence is taken into account under the condition where the control field is weak.In two different cases,optical bistability can be obtained through choosing appropriate physical parameters.Our studies show quantum coherence makes the optical nonlinear effect of the system become stronger,which takes an important role in the process of generating optical bistability.A semiconductor quantum well with flexibility and easy integration in design could potentially be exploited in real solid-state devices.