The cold atom Hubbard toolbox

We review recent theoretical advances in cold atom physics concentrating on strongly correlated cold atoms in optical lattices. We discuss recently developed quantum optical tools for manipulating atoms and show how they can be used to realize a wide range of many body Hamiltonians. Then, we describe connections and differences to condensed matter physics and present applications in the fields of quantum computing and quantum simulations. Finally, we explain how defects and atomic quantum dots can be introduced in a controlled way in optical lattice systems.     

Optical lattices,ultracold atoms and quantum information processing

We review novel methods for the investigation, control and manipulation of neutral atoms in optical lattices. These setups allow unprecedented quantum control over large numbers of atoms and thus are very promising for applications in quantum information processing. After introducing optical lattices we discuss the superfluid (SF) and Mott insulating (MI) states of neutral atoms trapped in such lattices and investigate the SF-MI transition as observed experimentally recently. In the second part of the paper we give an overview of proposals for quantum information processing and show different ways to entangle the trapped atoms, in particular the usage of cold collisions and Rydberg atoms. Finally, we discuss briefly the implementation of quantum simulators, entanglement enhanced atom interferometers, and ideas for robust quantum memory in optical lattices.     

Two-dimensional novel optical lattices with multi-well traps for cold atoms or molecules

We propose some new schemes to constitute two-dimensional (2D) array of multi-well optical dipole traps for cold atoms (or molecules) by using an optical system consisting of a binary π-phase grating and a 2D array of rectangle microlens. We calculate the intensity distribution of each optical well in 2D array of multi-well traps and its geometric parameters and so on. The proposed 2D array of multi-well traps can be used to form novel 2D optical lattices with cold atoms (or molecules), and form various novel optical crystals with cold atoms (or molecules), or to perform quantum computing and quantum information processing on an atom chip, even to realize an array of all-optical multi-well atomic (or molecular) BoseEinstein condensates (BECs) on an all-optical integrated atom (or molecule) chip.     

Controlling cold atoms using nanofabricated surfaces: atom chips

Atoms can be trapped and guided using nanofabricated wires on surfaces, achieving the scales required by quantum information proposals. These atom chips form the basis for robust and widespread applications of cold atoms ranging from atom optics to fundamental questions in mesoscopic physics, and possibly quantum information systems.     

A Decoherence-Reduction Scheme by Waveguides in Quantum Information Processing

Based on the result of cavity quantum electrodynamics, we suggest a method, in which the Fabry-Perot cavity or the confocal cavity is replaced by a waveguide with the size comparable to the wavelength of the photon, to reduce decoherence caused by spontaneous emission in quantum information processing, especially in the realization of quantum computation. Since a waveguide has a lowest cutoff frequency while a Fabry-Perot cavity or a confocal cavity has none, the spontaneous emission of excited atoms will be forbidden in an ideal waveguide with an appropriate size. To avoid the influence of the non-ideal conducting walls on the atom in a realistic waveguide, which will lead to decoherence, we suggest that the waveguide should be coated by a thin film of transparent insulating medium. In our method, the quantum information is represented by a multi-level atom or molecule; any two of its levels can be used to represent a qubit in principle. Our method greatly extends the choice of the material to be used in the realization of quantum computation, and it can be used in most schemes to reduce the decoherence caused by spontaneous emission.     

Micromanipulation of neutral atoms with nanofabricated structures

A large variety of trapping and guiding potentials can be designed by bringing cold atoms close to charged or current carrying material objects. We describe the basic principles of constructing microscopic traps and guides and how to load atoms into them. The simplicity and versatility of these methods will allow for miniaturization and integration of atom optical elements into matter-wave quantum circuits on Atom Chips. These could form the basis for robust and widespread applications in atom optics, ranging from fundamental studies in mesoscopic physics to possibly quantum information systems. Received: 20 December 1999 / Revised version: 7 March 2000 / Published online: 5 April 2000     

Controlling quantum discord dynamics in cavity QED systems by applying a classical driving field with phase decoherence

We investigate a two-level atom interacting with a quantized cavity field and a classical driving field in the presence of phase decoherence and find that a stationary quantum discord can arise in the interaction of the atom and cavity field as the time turns to infinity.We also find that the stationary quantum discord can be increased by applying a classical driving field.Furthermore,we explore the quantum discord dynamics of two identical non-interacting two-level atoms independently interacting with a quantized cavity field and a classical driving field in the presence of phase decoherence.Results show that the quantum discord between two atoms is more robust than entanglement under phase decoherence and the classical driving field can help to improve the amount of quantum discord of the two atoms.     

Controlling quantum discord dynamics in cavity QED systems by applying a classical driving field with phase decoherence

We investigate a two-level atom interacting with a quantized cavity field and a classical driving field in the presence of phase decoherence and find that a stationary quantum discord can arise in the interaction of the atom and cavity field as the time turns to infinity. We also find that the stationary quantum discord can be increased by applying a classical driving field. Furthermore, we explore the quantum discord dynamics of two identical non-interacting two-level atoms independently interacting with a quantized cavity field and a classical driving field in the presence of phase decoherence. Results show that the quantum discord between two atoms is more robust than entanglement under phase decoherence and the classical driving field can help to improve the amount of quantum discord of the two atoms.     

Mapping a cloud of ultra-cold atoms onto a miniature storage ring

We describe how to realize magnetic and magneto-optical confinement of ultra-cold atoms in a torus with adjustable diameter and how an elliptical cloud of ultra-cold atoms can be adiabatically transformed to have a toroidal shape. An experiment with cold ⁸⁷Rb atoms demonstrates the feasibility of shape transformations. These techniques can be used for atom interferometry and quantum computation. PACS 03.75.Be; 32.80.Pj; 03.67.Lx     

Effect of one-, two-, and three-body atom loss processes on superpositions of phase states in Bose-Josephson junctions

In a two-mode Bose-Josephson junction formed by a binary mixture of ultracold atoms, macroscopic superpositions of phase states are produced during the time evolution after a sudden quench to zero of the coupling amplitude. Using quantum trajectories and an exact diagonalization of the master equation, we study the effect of one-, two-, and three-body atom losses on the superpositions by analyzing separately the amount of quantum correlations in each subspace with fixed atom number. The quantum correlations useful for atom interferometry are estimated using the quantum Fisher information. We identify the choice of parameters leading to the largest Fisher information, thereby showing that, for all kinds of loss processes, quantum correlations can be partially protected from decoherence when the losses are strongly asymmetric in the two modes.     

Decoherence in a system of many two-level atoms

I show that the decoherence in a system of degenerate two-level atoms interacting with a bosonic heat bath is for any number of atoms governed by a generalized Hamming distance (called "decoherence metric") between the superposed quantum states, with a time-dependent metric tensor that is specific for the heat bath. The decoherence metric allows for the complete characterization of the decoherence of all possible superpositions of many-particle states, and can be applied to minimize the overall decoherence in a quantum memory. For qubits which are far apart, the decoherence is given by a function describing single-qubit decoherence times the standard Hamming distance. I apply the theory to cold atoms in an optical lattice interacting with blackbody radiation.     

Quantum computing with alkaline-Earth-metal atoms

We present a complete scheme for quantum information processing using the unique features of alkaline-earth-metal atoms. We show how two completely independent lattices can be formed for the 1S0 and 3P0 states, with one used as a storage lattice for qubits encoded on the nuclear spin, and the other as a transport lattice to move qubits and perform gate operations. We discuss how the 3P2 level can be used for addressing of individual qubits, and how collisional losses from metastable states can be used to perform gates via a lossy blockade mechanism.     

A modern review of the two-level approximation

The paradigm of the two-level atom is revisited and its perturbative analysis is discussed in view of the principle of duality in perturbation theory. The models we consider are a two-level atom and an ensemble of two-level atoms both interacting with a single radiation mode. The aim is to see how the latter can be actually used as an amplifier of quantum fluctuations to the classical level through the thermodynamic limit of a very large ensemble of two-level atoms [M. Frasca, Phys. Lett. A 283 (2001) 271] and how can remove Schrödinger cat states. The thermodynamic limit can be very effective for producing both classical states and decoherence on a quantum system that evolves without dissipation. Decoherence without dissipation is indeed an effect of a single two-level atom interacting with an ensemble of two-level atoms, a situation that proves to be useful to understand recent experiments on nanoscale devices showing unexpected disappearance of quantum coherence at very low temperatures.     

A simple quantum gate with atom chips

We present a simple scheme for implementing an atomic phase gate using two degrees of freedom for each atom and discuss its realization with cold rubidium atoms on atom chips. We investigate the performance of this collisional phase gate and show that gate operations with high fidelity can be realized in magnetic traps that are currently available on atom chips.     

Entanglement swapping between electromagnetic field modes and matter qubits

Scalable quantum networks require the capability to create, store and distribute entanglement among distant nodes (atoms, trapped ions, charge and spin qubits built on quantum dots, etc.) by means of photonic channels. We show how the entanglement between qubits and electromagnetic field modes allows generation of entangled states of remotely located qubits. We present analytical calculations of linear entropy and the density matrix for the entangled qubits for the system described by the Jaynes-Cummings model. We also discuss the influence of decoherence. The presented scheme is able to drive an initially separable state of two qubits into an highly entangled state suitable for quantum information processing.     

Measuring entanglement in condensed matter systems

We show how entanglement may be quantified in spin and cold atom many-body systems using standard experimental techniques only. The scheme requires no assumptions on the state in the laboratory, and a lower bound to the entanglement can be read off directly from the scattering cross section of neutrons deflected from solid state samples or the time-of-flight distribution of cold atoms in optical lattices, respectively. This removes a major obstacle which so far has prevented the direct and quantitative experimental study of genuine quantum correlations in many-body systems: The need for a full characterization of the state to quantify the entanglement contained in it. Instead, the scheme presented here relies solely on global measurements that are routinely performed and is versatile enough to accommodate systems and measurements different from the ones we exemplify in this work.     

Quantum decoherence of single-photon counters

The interaction of a quantum system with the environment leads to the so-called quantum decoherence. Beyond its fundamental significance, the understanding and the possible control of this dynamics in various scenarios is a key element for mastering quantum information processing. Here we report the quantitative probing of what can be called the quantum decoherence of detectors, a process reminiscent of the decoherence of quantum states in the presence of coupling with a reservoir. We demonstrate how the quantum features of two single-photon counters vanish under the influence of a noisy environment. We thereby experimentally witness the transition between the full-quantum operation of the measurement device to the "semi-classical regime", described by a positive Wigner function. The exact border between these two regimes is explicitely determined and measured experimentally.     

存在相位退相干时原子与光场相互作用的纠缠演化和保持

应用全量子理论研究了存在相位退相干时单模相干光场与一个二能级原子相互作用系统纠缠的时间演化规律;分别讨论了原子—光场耦合常数、光场的平均光子数以及失谐量的大小对场与原子纠缠的影响.结果表明:随着原子—光场耦合常数的增大和光场平均光子数的增加,系统纠缠的振荡频率都会明显增大.不存在相位退相干时,纠缠的时间演化明显受到失谐量的影响,若选取适当的失谐量,系统的纠缠可长时间保持在最大纠缠态.若考虑相位退相干的影响,则在共振情况下系统纠缠的时间演化是一个逐渐衰减的过程,且最终衰减到零;但若存在适当的失谐量,则在初始一段时间内系统的纠缠也是一个波动幅度逐渐衰减的过程,但随着时间的演化,失谐量抵消了相位退相干的影响,使系统的纠缠不再衰减到零.如果增大失谐量,纠缠在初始一段时间内波动的幅度会相应的减小,并且纠缠趋于稳定的时间也随着失谐量的增大而缩短;当失谐量适当时,系统可保持在纠缠相对较大的状态而无消纠缠态.     

The accuracy of Kirchhoff's approximation in describing the far field speckles produced by random self-affine fractal surfaces

We describe an array of microscopic atom traps formed by a pattern of magnetisation on a piece of videotape. We describe the way in which cold atoms are loaded into one of these micro-traps and how the trapped atom cloud is used to explore the properties of the trap. Evaporative cooling in the micro-trap down to a temperature of K allows us to probe the smoothness of the trapping potential and reveals some inhomogeneity produced by the magnetic film. We discuss future prospects for atom chips based on microscopic permanent-magnet structures.