Strong quantum spin correlations observed in atomic spin mixing

We have observed sub-Poissonian spin correlations generated by collisionally induced spin mixing in a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate. We measure a quantum noise reduction of -7 dB (-10 dB corrected for detection noise) below the standard quantum limit for the corresponding coherent spin states. The spin fluctuations are detected as atom number differences in the spin states using fluorescent imaging that achieves a detection noise floor of 8 atoms per spin component for a probe time of 100 μs.     

Nonlinear dissipative dynamics of a two-component atomic condensate coupling with a continuum

We investigate the nonlinear dissipative coherence bifurcation and population dynamics of a two-component atomic Bose-Einstein condensate coupling with a continuum. The coupling between the two-component condensates and the continuum brings effective dissipations to the two-component condensates. The steady states and the coherence bifurcation depend on both dissipation and the nonlinear interaction between condensed atoms. The coherence among condensed atoms may be even enhanced by the effective dissipations. The combination of dissipation and nonlinearity allows one to control the switching between different self-trapped states or the switching between a self-trapped state and a non-self-trapped state.     

Quantum dynamics and statistics of a Bose condensate generated by an atomic laser

A self-consistent quantum theory is developed for an atomic laser utilizing cooling of atoms in a trap by the method of stimulated evaporation. The model describes the pumping and extraction of the atomic field from a trap upon its interaction with independent atomic reservoirs. The stimulated collisions between atoms in the trap, which produce a Bose condensate in the lower state of the trap, are considered. The interaction of atoms with a phonon field causes spontaneous transitions between the discrete states of the trap. Calculations performed for the three-and four-level models of the trap showed the possibility of generation of a strongly squeezed sub-Poisson Bose condensate.     

Thermostatting the atomic spin dynamics from controlled demons

Deterministic dynamics in extended phase space of a constant temperature interacting spin system is formulated. The spin temperature is recovered through the constrained equation of motion and is in agreement with Rugh’s geometrical approach to temperature for classical Heisenberg spin systems. Detailed comparisons are investigated between state-of-the-art stochastic spin dynamics and deterministic dynamics using a chain of thermostats, for which an accelerated convergence structure is found.     

Coherent manipulation of spin squeezing in atomic Bose-Einstein condensate via electromagnetically induced transparency

We propose a scheme to coherently control spin squeezing of atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) via the technique of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We study quantum dynamics of the mean spin vector and spin squeezing. It is shown that the mean spin vector and spin squeezing of the BEC can be controlled and manipulated by adjusting the external coupling fields or/and internal nonlinear interactions of the BEC. It is indicated that the spin squeezing can be generated rapidly in the dynamical process and maintained in a long time interval. It is found that a larger effective Rabi coupling between atoms and lasers can produce a stronger spin squeezing, and the squeezing can maintain a longer time interval.     

All-optical formation of molecules with spin degree of freedom in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate

We have performed a two-photon photoassociation experiment in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate of ⁸⁷Rb with the spin degree of freedom, which is created by an all-optical method with CO₂ lasers. The spinor character of the created molecules has been revealed by the photoassociation spectrum with a new structure. The hyperfine structure of the created molecules near the dissociation limit is identified by observations of the Zeeman and AC-Stark effects of the molecules. We have also demonstrated the spin-selective creation of molecules. This result would open the new possibility of research on novel molecular spinor BEC.     

Quantum dynamics of atomic coherence in a spin-1 condensate: Mean-field versus many-body simulation

We analyse and numerically simulate the full many-body quantum dynamics of a spin-1 condensate in the single spatial mode approximation. Initially, the condensate is in a “ferromagnetic” state with all spins aligned along the y axis and the magnetic field pointing along the z axis. In the course of evolution the spinor condensate undergoes a characteristic change of symmetry, which in a real experiment could be a signature of spin-mixing many-body interactions. The results of our simulations are conveniently visualised within the picture of irreducible tensor operators.     

Angular momentum of a magnetically trapped atomic condensate

For an atomic condensate in an axially symmetric magnetic trap, the sum of the axial components of the orbital angular momentum and the hyperfine spin is conserved. Inside an Ioffe-Pritchard trap (IPT) whose magnetic field (B field) is not axially symmetric, the difference of the two becomes surprisingly conserved. In this Letter we investigate the relationship between the values of the sum or difference angular momentums for an atomic condensate inside a magnetic trap and the associated gauge potential induced by the adiabatic approximation. Our result provides significant new insight into the vorticity of magnetically trapped atomic quantum gases.     

Three-wave mixing of bogoliubov quasiparticles in a bose-einstein condensate

A dressed basis is used to calculate the dynamics of three-wave mixing between Bogoliubov quasiparticles in a Bose condensate. Because of the observed oscillations between different momentum modes, an energy splitting, analogous to the optical Mollow triplet, appears in the Beliaev damping spectrum of the excitations from the oscillating modes.     

Quantum spin dynamics of mode-squeezed Luttinger liquids in two-component atomic gases

We report on the observation of many-body spin dynamics of interacting, one-dimensional (1D) ultracold bosonic gases with two spin states. By controlling the nonlinear atomic interactions close to a Feshbach resonance we are able to induce a phase diffusive many-body spin dynamics of the relative phase between the two components. We monitor this dynamical evolution by Ramsey interferometry, supplemented by a novel, many-body echo technique, which unveils the role of quantum fluctuations in 1D. We find that the time evolution of the system is well described by a Luttinger liquid initially prepared in a multimode squeezed state. Our approach allows us to probe the nonequilibrium evolution of one-dimensional many-body quantum systems.     

Storage of spin squeezing in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate

A simple scheme for storage of spin squeezing in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate is investigated by considering rapidly turning-off the external field at a time that maximal spin squeezing occurs. We show that strong reduction of spin fluctuation can be maintained in a nearly fixed direction. We explain the underlying physics using the phase model and present analytical expressions of the maximal-squeezing time and the corresponding squeezing parameter.     

On the dynamics of a quantum-statistical condensate

The dynamical equation for a condensate at finite temperatures is derived. The derivation of the equation is based on the model due to Wu. The equation derived is the nonlinear Schrödinger equation of diffusion type.     

Formation dynamics of a fermion pair condensate

The dynamics of pair condensate formation in a strongly interacting Fermi gas close to a Feshbach resonance was studied. We employed a phase-shift method in which the delayed response of the many-body system to a modulation of the interaction strength was recorded. The observable was the fraction of condensed molecules in the cloud after a rapid magnetic field ramp across the Feshbach resonance. The measured response time was slow compared to the rapid ramp, which provides final proof that the molecular condensates reflect the presence of fermion pair condensates before the ramp.     

Creating maximally entangled atomic states in a Bose-Einstein condensate

We propose a protocol to create maximally entangled pairs, triplets, quartiles, and other clusters of Bose-condensed atoms starting from a condensate in the Mott insulator state. The essential element is to drive single atom Raman transitions using laser pulses. Our scheme is simple, efficient, and can be readily applied to the recent experimental system as reported by M. Greiner 413, 44 (2002)].     

Dissipative dynamics of a harmonically confined Bose-Einstein condensate

We study the dissipation of the center of mass oscillation of a harmonically confined condensate in the presence of a disorder potential. An extension of the harmonic potential theorem allows one to formulate the dynamics from the point of view of an oscillating disorder potential. This formulation leads to a rigorous result for the damping rate in the limit of weak disorder.     

Four-wave mixing and six-wave mixing in a four-level confined atomic system

We have investigated coexisting four-wave mixing and six-wave mixing (SWM) in ultra-thin, micrometre and long vapour cells. There exists competition between Dicke-narrowing features and polarization interference in the micrometre cell. The oscillation behaviour of SWM signal intensities and linewidths results from destructive interference. With a larger destructive interference, the SWM signal in ultra-thin cells shows a narrow spectrum, in contrast to the long cell case. Due to the Dicke-narrowing features, a narrow spectrum can be obtained, and such spectra can be used for high precision measurements and metrological standards.     

Spontaneously modulated spin textures in a dipolar spinor bose-einstein condensate

Helical spin textures in a 87Rb F=1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensate are found to decay spontaneously toward a spatially modulated structure of spin domains. The formation of this modulated phase is ascribed to magnetic dipolar interactions that energetically favor the short-wavelength domains over the long-wavelength spin helix. The reduction of dipolar interactions by a sequence of rf pulses results in a suppression of the modulated phase, thereby confirming the role of dipolar interactions in this process. This study demonstrates the significance of magnetic dipole interactions in degenerate 87Rb F=1 spinor gases.     

Entangled spin states of a Bose condensate in an electromagnetic field

We consider the formation of entangled quantum states for an atomic Bose condensate interacting with an external electromagnetic field in a single-particle state under conditions of change in various regimes for exchange interaction processes. These states of the Bose system have high phase coherence and are accompanied by the generation of squeezed states of a new type in terms of the parameters defined by a combination of transition operators for the condensate atoms and external-field photons with an appropriate polynomial deformation of the algebra SU(2). We show that localized quantum structures corresponding to stable elementary excitations of the atoms and the field in the condensate can be formed in principle. We also analyze the purely quantum effects of collapse and revival for the level populations of the Bose condensate and the change in atomic statistics as well as determine the conditions for the formation of superstructure of these unsteady states for the Bose system.     

Large triplet pairing mixing in the FFLO state of spin fluctuation mediated superconductivity in Q1D systems

We study the Fulde–Ferrell–Larkin–Ovchinnikov (FFLO) state of spin fluctuation mediated superconductivity and focus on the effect of coexisting charge fluctuations. We find that (i) consecutive transitions from singlet pairing to FFLO and further to S_z=1 triplet pairing can generally take place upon increasing the magnetic field when strong charge fluctuations coexist with spin fluctuations and (ii) the enhancement of the charge fluctuations lead to a significant increase of the parity mixing in the FFLO state, where the triplet/singlet component ratio in the gap function can be close to unity. We propose that such consecutive pairing state transition and strong parity mixing in the FFLO state may take place in a quasi-one-dimensional organic superconductor (TMTSF)₂X.