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arXiv:1408.5235 · Physical Review Letters

Sagnac Interferometry Using Bright Matter-Wave Solitons

J. L. Helm, Simon L. Cornish, S. A. Gardiner

Published Apr 1, 2015• 98 citations
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Abstract

We use an effective one-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation to study bright matter-wave solitons held in a tightly confining toroidal trapping potential, in a rotating frame of reference, as they are split and recombined on narrow barrier potentials. In particular, we present an analytical and numerical analysis of the phase evolution of the solitons and delimit a velocity regime in which soliton Sagnac interferometry is possible, taking account of the effect of quantum uncertainty.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.114.134101

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We use an effective one-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation to study bright matter-wave solitons held in a tightly confining toroidal trapping potential, in a rotating frame of reference, as they are split and recombined on narrow barrier potentials. In particular, we present an analytical and numerical analysis of the phase evolution of the solitons and delimit a velocity regime in which soliton Sagnac interferometry is possible, taking account of the effect of quantum uncertainty.
We study bright solitons in the Gross-Pitaevskii equation as they are split and recombined in a low-energy system. We present analytic results determining the general region in which a soliton may not be split on a potential barrier and confirm these results numerically. Furthermore, we analyze the energetic regimes where quantum fluctuations in the initial center-of-mass position and momentum become influential on the outcome of soliton splitting and recombination events. We then use the results of this analysis to determine a parameter regime where soliton interferometry is practicable.
Bose–Einstein condensates with attractive interactions have stable 1D solutions in the form of bright solitary-waves. These solitary waves behave, in the absence of external potentials, like macroscopic quantum particles. This opens up a wide array of applications for the testing of quantum mechanical behaviours and precision measurement. Here we investigate these applications with particular focus on the interactions of bright solitary-waves with narrow potential barriers. We first study bright solitons in the Gross–Pitaevskii equation as they are split on Gaussian and δ-function barriers, and then on Gaussian barriers in a low energy system. We present analytic and numerical results determining the general region in which a soliton may not be split on a finite width potential barrier. Furthermore, we test the sensitivity of the system to quantum fluctuations. We then study fast-moving bright solitons colliding at a narrow Gaussian potential barrier. In the limiting case of a δ-function barrier, we show analytically that the relative norms of the outgoing waves depends sinusoidally on the relative phase of the incoming waves, and determine whether the outgoing waves are bright solitons. We use numerical simulations to show that outside the high velocity limit nonlinear effects introduce a skew to the phase-dependence. Finally, we use these results to analyse the process of soliton interferometry. We develop analyses of both toroidal and harmonic trapping geometries for Mach–Zehnder interferometry, and then two implementations of a toroidal Sagnac inter- ferometer, also giving the analytical determination of the Sagnac phase in such systems. These results are again verified numerically. In the Mach–Zehnder case, we again probe the systems sensitivity to quantum fluctuations.
Bright solitons in a quasi-1D Bose–Einstein condensate can be used to enhance precision in matter-wave interferometry, due to their inherent robustness and support against dispersion. Such a soliton interferometer typically relies on a potential barrier used to split a single soliton into two smaller coherent solitons which can then be recombined on the same barrier. In this thesis we examine two extensions to this scheme. Firstly, we investigate a binary BEC system consisting of two bright solitons which are coupled through a mutual nonlinear interaction term. We derive a set of conditions under which the two components can be separated on a potential barrier and use numerical simulations to probe the regimes beyond which this mathematical treatment is applicable. We then use the numerical simulations to look at the effect of the nonlinear coupling on the dynamics of the binary solitons interacting with the barrier. We also look at the interference behaviour found by doubling the simulation time in either a ring trap or a harmonic trapping potential (to ensure recombination on the barrier); as well as the case where the solitons start spatially separated on either side of the barrier in order to find conditions under which the solitons will combine on the barrier. We find a good agreement between the analytical predictions and the results of simulations. Beyond the regions of parameter space where the predictions are expected to hold, we find complex transmission and interference behaviour as a result of nonlinear effects. The second part of this thesis consists of an examination of the prospect of using a subwavelength barrier scheme in a soliton interferometry experiment. This involves using two resonant coupling beams in a Λ-system with a spatially varying intensity. Under certain conditions, this can be used to form an effective potential barrier with a width which is not diffraction-limited. We look at suitable parameter regimes for such a barrier to split and recombine solitons in an interferometer and probe the effects of possible complications such as misalignment in the beams and different scattering lengths in the different states. We simulate the soliton interferometer using the full three component GPE as well as the single component analogue with the effective potential in order to characterise the soliton behaviour and the dependence of the interferometer sensitivity on the system parameters. We find a trend towards an idealised soliton interferometer with a decreasing value of the parameter, w, controlling the barrier characteristics. Also, we demonstrate an agreement between the relevant three component GPE and the analogous single component GPE, in the limit of strong coupling fields.
We model the dynamics of attractively interacting ultracold bosonic atoms in a quasi-one-dimensional wave guide with additional harmonic trapping. Initially, we prepare the system in its ground state and then shift the zero of the harmonic trap and switch on an additional narrow scattering potential near the center of the trap. After colliding with the barrier twice, we propose to measure the number of atoms opposite the initial condition. Quantum-enhanced interferometry with quantum bright solitons allows us to predict detection of an offset of the scattering potential with considerably increased precision as compared to single-particle experiments. In a future experimental realization this might lead to measurement of weak forces caused, for example, by small horizontal gradients in the gravitational potential---with a resolution of several micrometers given essentially by the size of the solitons. Our numerical simulations are based on the rigorously proved effective potential approach developed in previous papers [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 010403 (2009) and Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 210402 (2009)]. We choose our parameters such that the prerequisite of the proof (that the solitons cannot break apart, for energetic reasons) is always fulfilled, thus exploring a parameter regime inaccessible to the mean-field description via the Gross-Pitaevskii equation due to Schr\"odinger-cat states occurring in the many-particle quantum dynamics.
Solitons are long-lived wavepackets that propagate without dispersion and exist in a wide range of one-dimensional (1D) nonlinear systems. A Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a quasi-1D waveguide can support bright-solitary-matter waves (3D analogues of solitons) when interatomic interactions are sufficiently attractive that they cancel dispersion. Solitary-matter waves are excellent candidates for a new generation of highly sensitive interferometers, as their non-dispersive nature allows them to acquire phase shifts for longer times than conventional matter-waves interferometers. However, such an interferometer is yet to be realised experimentally. In this work, we demonstrate the splitting and recombination of a bright-solitary-matter wave on a narrow repulsive barrier, which brings together the fundamental components of an interferometer. We show that both interference-mediated recombination and classical velocity filtering effects are important, but for a sufficiently narrow barrier interference-mediated recombination can dominate. We reveal the extreme sensitivity of interference-mediated recombination to the experimental parameters, highlighting the potential of soliton interferometry.