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arXiv:1510.06203 · Physical Review A

Mesoscopic transport and interferometry with wave packets of ultracold atoms: Effects of quantum coherence and interactions

Kunal K. Das

Published Sep 20, 2011• 8 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We propose a way to simulate mesoscopic transport processes with counterpropagating wave packets of ultracold atoms in quasi-one-dimensional (1D) waveguides and show quantitative agreement with analytical results. The method allows the study of a broad range of transport processes at the level of individual modes, not possible in electronic systems. Typically suppressed effects of quantum coherence become manifest, along with the effects of tunable interactions, which can be used to develop a simpler type of sensitive atom interferometer.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.84.031601

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We propose a way to simulate mesoscopic transport processes with counterpropagating wave packets of ultracold atoms in quasi-one-dimensional (1D) waveguides and show quantitative agreement with analytical results. The method allows the study of a broad range of transport processes at the level of individual modes, not possible in electronic systems. Typically suppressed effects of quantum coherence become manifest, along with the effects of tunable interactions, which can be used to develop a simpler type of sensitive atom interferometer.
This thesis is primarily a comprehensive discussion of the development of two experimental studies: the quantum transport and effects of heating of ultracold atoms. It specifically provides details of the manipulation and control of ultracold atoms in magnetic waveguides, optical lattices, and optical billiards. The design, construction, and implementation of experimental apparati are also outlined and additional experimental tests are summarized, including the realization of a macroscopic transport (> 20 cm) system for ultracold atoms and transmission of ultracold atoms through a random optical potential. The first experiment is a study of the quantum transport for atoms confined in a periodic potential. These results include a comparison made of thermal and BEC initial conditions. Here, observation of ballistic transport is made for all values of well depth and initial conditions, and the expansion rates for thermal atoms are shown to be in excellent agreement with a singleparticle model. For weak wells (V0/ER ≤ 6), the expansion of the BEC is also in excellent agreement with single-particle theory, using an effective temperature model based on single (non-interacting) particle theory. For deep wells (V0/ER ≥ 6), a crossover is observed to a new regime for the BEC case, indicating the importance of interactions on quantum transport. The second experiment is a study of the effect of different heating rates on a dilute Bose gas confined in a quasi-1D finite, leaky box. An optical kicked-rotor is used to transfer energy to the atoms while two repulsive optical beams are used to confine the atoms. The average energy of the atoms is localized after a large number of kicks and the system reaches a nonequilibrium steady state. A numerical simulation of the experimental data suggests that the localization is due to energetic atoms leaking over the barrier. Our data also indicates a correlation between collisions and the destruction of the BoseEinstein condensate fraction and an exponential decay in phase space density.
We explore atom-laser-like transport processes of ultracold Bose-condensed atomic vapors in mesoscopic waveguide structures beyond the Gross-Pitaevskii mean-field theory. Based on a microscopic description of the transport process in the presence of a coherent source that models the outcoupling from a reservoir of perfectly Bose-Einstein condensed atoms, we derive a system of coupled quantum evolution equations that describe the dynamics of a dilute condensed Bose gas in the framework of the Hartree-Fock--Bogoliubov approximation. We apply this method to study the transport of dilute Bose gases through an atomic quantum dot and through waveguides with disorder. Our numerical simulations reveal that the onset of an explicitly time-dependent flow corresponds to the appearance of strong depletion of the condensate on the microscopic level and leads to a loss of global phase coherence.
The Kondo effect in condensed-matter systems manifests itself most sharply in their transport measurements. Here we propose an analogous transport signature of the orbital Kondo effect realized with ultracold atoms. Our system consists of imbalanced Fermi seas of two components of fermions and an impurity atom of different species which is confined by an isotropic potential. We first apply a $\ensuremath{\pi}/2$ pulse to transform two components of fermions into two superposition states. Their interactions with the impurity atom then cause a ``transport'' of fermions from majority to minority superposition states, whose numbers can be measured after applying another $3\ensuremath{\pi}/2$ pulse. In particular, when the interaction of one component of fermions with the impurity atom is tuned close to a confinement-induced ppp-wave or higher partial-wave resonance, the resulting conductance is shown to exhibit the Kondo signature, i.e., universal logarithmic growth by lowering the temperature. The proposed transport measurement will thus provide a clear evidence of the orbital Kondo effect accessible in ultracold atom experiments and pave the way for developing new insights into Kondo physics.
Atomic quantum systems such as atomic clocks or qubits with cold atoms in tweezer arrays have attracted enormous interests both in academia and industry. In this work, we report a theoretical study and experimental demonstration of quantum tunneling of atoms in 1D optical lattices with decoherence. In such decoherence process, the expansion of atomic wave packet is suppressed and resonance spectrum is broadened. In this regime, as the decoherence rate L or the modulation time t increases, the evolution of atomic wave packets transitions from coherent tunneling to classical diffusion. We propose a detection method to fast evaluate the degree of decoherence in such systems. Our work benefits the study of decoherence properties of precision measurements based on optical lattice.
Ultracold atoms in light-shaped potentials open up new ways to explore mesoscopic physics: Arbitrary trapping potentials can be engineered with only a change of the laser field. Here, we propose using ultracold atoms in light-shaped potentials to feasibly realize a cold-atom device to study one of the fundamental problems of mesoscopic physics, the Aharonov-Bohm effect: the interaction of particles with a magnetic field when traveling in a closed loop. Surprisingly, we find that the Aharonov-Bohm effect is washed out for interacting bosons, while it is present for fermions. We show that our atomic device has possible applications as a quantum simulator, Mach-Zehnder interferometer, and for tests of quantum foundation.
We experimentally investigate a scheme for studying lattice transport phenomena, based on the controlled momentum-space dynamics of ultracold atomic matter waves. In the effective tight-binding models that can be simulated, we demonstrate that this technique allows for a local and time-dependent control over all system parameters, and additionally allows for single-site resolved detection of atomic populations. We demonstrate full control over site-to-site off-diagonal tunneling elements (amplitude and phase) and diagonal site energies, through the observation of continuous-time quantum walks, Bloch oscillations, and negative tunneling. These capabilities open up new prospects in the experimental study of disordered and topological systems.