Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Preparing and Probing Atomic Number States With an Atom Interferometer

Published

Author(s)

Jennifer Sebby-Strabley, Ben L. Brown, M Anderlini, Patricia J. Lee, William D. Phillips, James V. Porto, Philip R. Johnson

Abstract

We describe the controlled loading and measurement of number-squeezed states and Poisson states in individual sites of a double well optical lattice. These states are input to an atom interferometer that is realized by symmetrically splitting individual lattice sites into double wells, allowing atoms in individual sites to evolve independently. The two paths then interfere, creating a matter-wave double-slit diffraction pattern. The time evolution of the double-slit diffraction pattern is used to measure the number statistics of the input state. Theflexibility of our double well lattice provides a means to detect the presence of empty lattice sites, an important and so far unmeasured factor in determining the fidelity of a Mott state.
Citation
Physical Review Letters
Volume
98
Issue
20

Keywords

Bose Einstein Condensate, double well, optical lattices Quantum information

Citation

Sebby-Strabley, J. , Brown, B. , Anderlini, M. , Lee, P. , Phillips, W. , Porto, J. and Johnson, P. (2007), Preparing and Probing Atomic Number States With an Atom Interferometer, Physical Review Letters (Accessed March 28, 2024)
Created May 16, 2007, Updated October 12, 2021