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arXiv:0704.2097 · Physical Review A

Effects of measurement backaction in the stabilization of a Bose-Einstein condensate through feedback

S. D. Wilson, Andre R. R. Carvalho, J. J. Hope, M. R. James

Published Jul 10, 2007• 21 citations
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Abstract

We apply quantum filtering and control to a particle in a harmonic trap under continuous position measurement, and show that a simple static feedback law can be used to cool the system. The final steady state is Gaussian and dependent on the feedback strength and coupling between the system and probe. In the limit of weak coupling, this final state becomes the ground state. An earlier model by Haine et al. [Phys. Rev. A 69, 13605 (2004)] without measurement backaction showed dark states: states that did not display error signals, thus remaining unaffected by the control. This paper shows that for a realistic measurement process this is not true, which indicates that a Bose-Einstein condensate may be driven toward the ground state from any arbitrary initial state.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.76.013610

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We apply quantum filtering and control to a particle in a harmonic trap under continuous position measurement, and show that a simple static feedback law can be used to cool the system. The final steady state is Gaussian and dependent on the feedback strength and coupling between the system and probe. In the limit of weak coupling, this final state becomes the ground state. An earlier model by Haine et al. [Phys. Rev. A 69, 13605 (2004)] without measurement backaction showed dark states: states that did not display error signals, thus remaining unaffected by the control. This paper shows that for a realistic measurement process this is not true, which indicates that a Bose-Einstein condensate may be driven toward the ground state from any arbitrary initial state.
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We consider the theory of feedback control of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) confined in a harmonic trap under a continuous measurement constructed via nondestructive imaging. A filtering theory approach is used to derive a stochastic master equation (SME) for the system from a general Hamiltonian based upon system-bath coupling. Numerical solutions for this SME in the limit of a single atom show that the final steady-state energy is dependent upon the measurement strength, the ratio of photon kinetic energy to atomic kinetic energy, and the feedback strength. Simulations indicate that for a weak measurement strength, feedback can be used to overcome heating introduced by the scattering of light, thereby allowing the atom to be driven toward the ground state.
Off-resonant optical imaging is a popular method for continuous monitoring of a Bose–Einstein condensate. However, the disturbance caused by scattered photons places a serious limitation on the lifetime of such continuously monitored condensates. In this paper, we demonstrate that a new choice of feedback control can overcome the heating effects of the measurement backaction. In particular, we show that the measurement backaction caused by off-resonant optical imaging is a multi-mode quantum-field effect, as the entire heating process is not seen in single-particle or mean-field models of the system. Simulating such continuously monitored systems is possible with the number-phase Wigner particle filter, which currently gives both the highest precision and largest timescale simulations amongst competing methods. It is a hybrid between the leading techniques for simulating non-equilibrium dynamics in condensates and particle filters for simulating high-dimensional non-Gaussian filters in the field of engineering. The new control scheme will enable long-term continuous measurement and feedback on one of the leading platforms for precision measurement and the simulation of quantum fields, allowing for the possibility of single-shot experiments, adaptive measurements and robust state-preparation and manipulation.
Continuously measured interacting quantum systems almost invariably heat, causing loss of quantum coherence. Here, we study Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) subject to repeated weak measurement of the atomic density and describe several protocols for generating a feedback signal designed to remove excitations created by measurement back-action. We use a stochastic Gross-Pitaevskii equation to model the system dynamics and find that a feedback protocol utilizing momentum-dependent gain and filtering can effectively cool both one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional systems. The performance of these protocols is quantified in terms of the steady-state energy, entropy, and condensed fraction. These are the first feedback cooling protocols demonstrated in two dimensions, and in one dimension our optimal protocol reduces the equilibrium energy by more than a factor of 100 as compared with a previous cooling protocol developed using the same methodology. We also use this protocol to quench-cool 1D BECs from noncondensed highly excited states and find that they rapidly condense into a far-from-equilibrium state with energy orders of magnitude higher than the equilibrium ground-state energy for that condensate fraction. We explain this in terms of the near integrability of our 1D system, whereby efficiently cooled low-momentum modes are effectively decoupled from the energetic ``reservoir'' of the higher-momentum modes. We observe that the quench-cooled condensed states can have nonzero integer winding numbers described by quantized supercurrents.
Understanding system-reservoir dynamics in many-body physics is a new frontier. An external environment can be thought of as a 'measurement reservoir' which extracts information about the quantum system. Weak (i.e. minimally destructive) measurements provide a time-resolved but noisy record of system evolution. In this talk, we propose using weak measurement and feedback to probe and manipulate spinor Bose-Einstein condensates, focusing on the trade-off between usable information obtained from measurement and the effect of measurement on the system (quantum backaction). As a prototype example, we consider the dynamics of a domain wall in a two-component BEC and show that quantum backaction due to measurement causes two primary effects: domain wall diffusion and overall heating. The system dynamics and signal-to-noise ratio depend on the choice of measurement observable. We describe a feedback protocol to create and stabilize a domain wall in the regime where domain walls are unstable, giving a prototype example of Hamiltonian engineering using measurement and feedback.
Abstract We theoretically investigate measurement-based feedback control over the motional degrees of freedom of an oblate quasi-2D atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) subject to continuous density monitoring. We develop a linear-quadratic-Gaussian (LQG) model that describes the multi-mode dynamics of the condensate's collective excitations under continuous measurement and control. Crucially, the multi-mode cold-damping feedback control we consider uses a realistic state-estimation scheme that does not rely upon a particular model of the atomic dynamics. We present analytical results showing that collective excitations can be cooled to below single-phonon average occupation (ground-state cooling) across a broad parameter regime, and identify the conditions under which the lowest steady-state phonon occupation is asymptotically achieved. Further, we develop multi-objective optimization methods that explore the trade-off between cooling speed and the final energy of the cloud, and provide numerical simulations demonstrating the ground-state cooling of the lowest ten motional modes above the condensate ground state. Our investigation provides concrete guidance on the feedback control design and parameters needed to experimentally realize a feedback-cooled BEC.