Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1502.04871 · Physical Review Letters

Phase-Imprinting of Bose-Einstein Condensates with Rydberg Impurities

Rick Mukherjee, Cenap Ates, Weibin Li, Sebastian Wüster

Published Jul 21, 2015• 34 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We show how the phase profile of Bose-Einstein condensates can be engineered through its interaction with localized Rydberg excitations. The interaction is made controllable and long range by off-resonantly coupling the condensate to another Rydberg state with laser light. Our technique allows the mapping of entanglement generated in systems of few strongly interacting Rydberg atoms onto much larger atom clouds in hybrid setups. As an example we discuss the creation of a spatial mesoscopic superposition state from a bright soliton. Additionally, the phase imprinted onto the condensate using the Rydberg excitations is a diagnostic tool for the latter. For example, a condensate time-of-flight image would permit reconstructing the pattern of an embedded Rydberg crystal.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.115.040401

Related papers

Generation and decoherence of soliton spatial superposition states

Abhijit Pendse, Shruti Shirol, Shiva Kant Tiwari +1 more

Due to their coherence properties, dilute atomic gas Bose-Einstein condensates seem a versatile platform for controlled creation of mesoscopically entangled states with a large number of particles and allow controlled studies of their decoherence. However, the creation of such states intrinsically involves many-body quantum dynamics that cannot be captured by mean-field theory and, thus, invalidates the most common methods for the description of condensates. We follow up on a proposal in which a condensate cloud as a whole is brought into a superposition of two different spatial locations by mapping entanglement from a strongly interacting Rydberg atomic system onto the condensate using off-resonant laser dressing [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115 040401 (2015)]. A variational many-body ansatz akin to recently developed multiconfigurational methods allows us to model this entanglement mapping step explicitly, while still preserving the simplicity of mean-field physics for the description of each branch of the superposition. In the second part of the article, we model the decoherence process due to atom losses in detail. Altogether we confirm earlier estimates that tightly localized clouds of 400 atoms can be brought into a quantum superposition of two locations about $3\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ apart and remain coherent for about 1 ms.

arXiv:2007.14420•Physical Review A•Nov 30, 2020•8 citations

Generating Solitons by Phase Engineering of a Bose-Einstein Condensate

Johannes Hecker Denschlag, J. E. Simsarian, David L. Feder +10 more

Quantum phase engineering is demonstrated with two techniques that allow the spatial phase distribution of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) to be written and read out. A quantum state was designed and produced by optically imprinting a phase pattern onto a BEC of sodium atoms, and matter-wave interferometry with spatially resolved imaging was used to analyze the resultant phase distribution. An appropriate phase imprint created solitons, the first experimental realization of this nonlinear phenomenon in a BEC. The subsequent evolution of these excitations was investigated both experimentally and theoretically.

Science•Jan 7, 2000•1,319 citations

Manipulation and phase engineering of Bose-Einstein condensates

Kai Bongs

We present experiments investigating different aspects concerning the coherent manipulation of a Bose-Einstein condensate wavefunction with far blue detuned dipole potentials. In a first set of experiments we study a waveguide for matter waves as an important atom optical element allowing to hold and guide the atoms for long observation times. We present a flexible realization of this waveguide based on a tube shaped Laguerre Gaussian laser beam and investigate the dynamics of a Bose condensed ensemble transferred into this guide. In a second set of experiments we study the dynamics of dark solitons created by the manipulation of the phase of the condensate wave function by temporally applied dipole potentials. This method of phase imprinting represents a powerful tool for the design of matter waves and the controlled creation of various excitations. The dynamics of dark solitons in matter waves is investigated in detail by experimentally and numerically studying the temporal evolution of the condensate density as well as by mapping the velocity field of the excited condensate wavefunction. In these measurements we directly detect the flux of the wave function associated with the dark soliton using spatially resolved Bragg scattering. Experiments investigating the creation and interaction of several dark solitons conclude this chapter.

AIP conference proceedings•Jan 1, 2001•0 citations

Tracking Rydberg atoms with Bose-Einstein condensates

Shiva Kant Tiwari, Sebastian Wüster

We propose to track the position and velocity of mobile Rydberg excited impurity atoms through the elastic interactions of the Rydberg electron with a host condensate. Tracks first occur in the condensate phase, but are then naturally converted to features in the condensate density or momentum distribution. The condensate thus acts analogously to the cloud or bubble chambers in the early days of elementary particle physics. The technique will be useful for exploring Rydberg-Rydberg scattering, rare inelastic processes involving the Rydberg impurities, coherence in Rydberg motion, and forces exerted by the condensate on the impurities. Our simulations show that resolvable tracks can be generated within the immersed Rydberg lifetime and condensate heating is under control. Finally, we demonstrate the utility of this Rydberg tracking technique to study ionizing Rydberg collisions or angular momentum changing interactions with the condensate.

arXiv:1810.03439•Physical Review A•Apr 16, 2019•9 citations

Engineering vortex rings and systems for controlled studies of vortex interactions in Bose-Einstein condensates

Janne Ruostekoski, Zachary Dutton

We study controlled methods of preparing vortex configurations in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates and their use in the studies of fundamental vortex scattering, reconnection processes, and superfluid sound emission. We explore techniques of imprinting vortex rings by means of coherently driving internal atomic transitions with electromagnetic fields which exhibit singular phase profiles. In particular, we show that a vortex ring can be prepared by two focused co-propagating Gaussian laser beams. More complex vortex systems may also be imprinted by directly superposing simpler field configurations or by programming their phase profiles on optical holograms. We analyze specific examples of two merging vortex rings in a trapped two-species $^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ gas. We calculate the radiated sound energy in the reconnection process and show that the vortex relaxation and the redistribution of sound energy can be controlled by the imprinting process. As another creation technique, we study engineering pairs of two-dimensional point vortices in the condensates using a `light roadblock' in ultraslow light propagation. We show how this can be used to study vortex collisions in compressible superfluids and how these collisions result in energy dissipation via phonons and, sometimes, annihilation of vortex pairs.

arXiv:cond-mat/0507032•Physical Review A•Dec 30, 2005•68 citations

Phase imprinting of vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates using shaped light

Jasper Smits

Vorticity in superfluids has been studied for decades. In atomic BECs, vorticity was induced by stirring with laser beams. In this thesis, phase imprinting is introduced as an alternative method to induce vorticity in a BEC. By using a Liquid Crystal-on-Silicon spatial light modulator the phase of a laser beam can be shaped into any spatial profile, limited only by the imaging resolution. By using this shaped light in a two-photon Raman transfer, the phase of the electromagnetic field is transferred on to the Bose-condensed atoms.\n\nSimulations are performed for light containing a single phase winding, taking into account that the vortex in this beam has a finite vortex core size due to limited imaging resolution. It follows that the finite core size has an incomplete transfer as a result, but the phase winding is imprinted on to the atoms transferred to the second component.\n\nAlso, experimentally the two-photon Raman transition which is needed has been realised. However, the transfer process is impeded by a different two-photon process occuring at the same time, and by superradiant Rayleigh scattering. Recommendations are given to suppress these effects and successfully imprint the phase from the shaped light on to the atoms.

•Jan 1, 2016•0 citations
We show how the phase profile of Bose-Einstein condensates can be engineered through its interaction with localized Rydberg excitations. The interaction is made controllable and long range by off-resonantly coupling the condensate to another Rydberg state with laser light. Our technique allows the mapping of entanglement generated in systems of few strongly interacting Rydberg atoms onto much larger atom clouds in hybrid setups. As an example we discuss the creation of a spatial mesoscopic superposition state from a bright soliton. Additionally, the phase imprinted onto the condensate using the Rydberg excitations is a diagnostic tool for the latter. For example, a condensate time-of-flight image would permit reconstructing the pattern of an embedded Rydberg crystal.
Due to their coherence properties, dilute atomic gas Bose-Einstein condensates seem a versatile platform for controlled creation of mesoscopically entangled states with a large number of particles and allow controlled studies of their decoherence. However, the creation of such states intrinsically involves many-body quantum dynamics that cannot be captured by mean-field theory and, thus, invalidates the most common methods for the description of condensates. We follow up on a proposal in which a condensate cloud as a whole is brought into a superposition of two different spatial locations by mapping entanglement from a strongly interacting Rydberg atomic system onto the condensate using off-resonant laser dressing [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115 040401 (2015)]. A variational many-body ansatz akin to recently developed multiconfigurational methods allows us to model this entanglement mapping step explicitly, while still preserving the simplicity of mean-field physics for the description of each branch of the superposition. In the second part of the article, we model the decoherence process due to atom losses in detail. Altogether we confirm earlier estimates that tightly localized clouds of 400 atoms can be brought into a quantum superposition of two locations about $3\phantom{\rule{0.28em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$ apart and remain coherent for about 1 ms.
Quantum phase engineering is demonstrated with two techniques that allow the spatial phase distribution of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) to be written and read out. A quantum state was designed and produced by optically imprinting a phase pattern onto a BEC of sodium atoms, and matter-wave interferometry with spatially resolved imaging was used to analyze the resultant phase distribution. An appropriate phase imprint created solitons, the first experimental realization of this nonlinear phenomenon in a BEC. The subsequent evolution of these excitations was investigated both experimentally and theoretically.
We present experiments investigating different aspects concerning the coherent manipulation of a Bose-Einstein condensate wavefunction with far blue detuned dipole potentials. In a first set of experiments we study a waveguide for matter waves as an important atom optical element allowing to hold and guide the atoms for long observation times. We present a flexible realization of this waveguide based on a tube shaped Laguerre Gaussian laser beam and investigate the dynamics of a Bose condensed ensemble transferred into this guide. In a second set of experiments we study the dynamics of dark solitons created by the manipulation of the phase of the condensate wave function by temporally applied dipole potentials. This method of phase imprinting represents a powerful tool for the design of matter waves and the controlled creation of various excitations. The dynamics of dark solitons in matter waves is investigated in detail by experimentally and numerically studying the temporal evolution of the condensate density as well as by mapping the velocity field of the excited condensate wavefunction. In these measurements we directly detect the flux of the wave function associated with the dark soliton using spatially resolved Bragg scattering. Experiments investigating the creation and interaction of several dark solitons conclude this chapter.
We propose to track the position and velocity of mobile Rydberg excited impurity atoms through the elastic interactions of the Rydberg electron with a host condensate. Tracks first occur in the condensate phase, but are then naturally converted to features in the condensate density or momentum distribution. The condensate thus acts analogously to the cloud or bubble chambers in the early days of elementary particle physics. The technique will be useful for exploring Rydberg-Rydberg scattering, rare inelastic processes involving the Rydberg impurities, coherence in Rydberg motion, and forces exerted by the condensate on the impurities. Our simulations show that resolvable tracks can be generated within the immersed Rydberg lifetime and condensate heating is under control. Finally, we demonstrate the utility of this Rydberg tracking technique to study ionizing Rydberg collisions or angular momentum changing interactions with the condensate.
We study controlled methods of preparing vortex configurations in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates and their use in the studies of fundamental vortex scattering, reconnection processes, and superfluid sound emission. We explore techniques of imprinting vortex rings by means of coherently driving internal atomic transitions with electromagnetic fields which exhibit singular phase profiles. In particular, we show that a vortex ring can be prepared by two focused co-propagating Gaussian laser beams. More complex vortex systems may also be imprinted by directly superposing simpler field configurations or by programming their phase profiles on optical holograms. We analyze specific examples of two merging vortex rings in a trapped two-species 87Rb^{87}\mathrm{Rb}87Rb gas. We calculate the radiated sound energy in the reconnection process and show that the vortex relaxation and the redistribution of sound energy can be controlled by the imprinting process. As another creation technique, we study engineering pairs of two-dimensional point vortices in the condensates using a `light roadblock' in ultraslow light propagation. We show how this can be used to study vortex collisions in compressible superfluids and how these collisions result in energy dissipation via phonons and, sometimes, annihilation of vortex pairs.
Vorticity in superfluids has been studied for decades. In atomic BECs, vorticity was induced by stirring with laser beams. In this thesis, phase imprinting is introduced as an alternative method to induce vorticity in a BEC. By using a Liquid Crystal-on-Silicon spatial light modulator the phase of a laser beam can be shaped into any spatial profile, limited only by the imaging resolution. By using this shaped light in a two-photon Raman transfer, the phase of the electromagnetic field is transferred on to the Bose-condensed atoms.\n\nSimulations are performed for light containing a single phase winding, taking into account that the vortex in this beam has a finite vortex core size due to limited imaging resolution. It follows that the finite core size has an incomplete transfer as a result, but the phase winding is imprinted on to the atoms transferred to the second component.\n\nAlso, experimentally the two-photon Raman transition which is needed has been realised. However, the transfer process is impeded by a different two-photon process occuring at the same time, and by superradiant Rayleigh scattering. Recommendations are given to suppress these effects and successfully imprint the phase from the shaped light on to the atoms.