Squeezed States in a Bose-Einstein Condensate

We report manipulation of the atom number statistics associated with Bose-Einstein condensed atoms confined in an array of weakly linked mesoscopic traps. We used the interference of atoms released from the traps as a sensitive probe of these statistics. By controlling relative strengths of the tunn...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2001-03, Vol.291 (5512), p.2386-2389
Main Authors: Orzel, C., Tuchman, A. K., Fenselau, M. L., Yasuda, M., Kasevich, M. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atom and neutron optics
Atomic interactions
Atoms
Atoms & subatomic particles
Bose-Einstein condensates
Bose-Einstein condensation
Classical and quantum physics: mechanics and fields
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
Fluid dynamics
Ground state
Interferometry
Magnetic fields
Mathematical lattices
Matter waves
Methods
Optics
Phase coherent atomic ensembles
quantum condensation phenomena
Photons
Physics
Quantum optics
Squeezed states
Statistical variance
Wave functions
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Summary:We report manipulation of the atom number statistics associated with Bose-Einstein condensed atoms confined in an array of weakly linked mesoscopic traps. We used the interference of atoms released from the traps as a sensitive probe of these statistics. By controlling relative strengths of the tunneling rate between traps and atom-atom interactions within each trap, we observed trap states characterized by sub-Poissonian number fluctuations and adiabatic transitions between these number-squeezed states and coherent states of the atom field. The quantum states produced in this work may enable substantial gains in sensitivity for atom interference-based instruments as well as fundamental studies of quantum phase transitions.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1058149