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arXiv:2606.05125

Experimentally probing the Quantum Physics in the Inverted Harmonic Oscillator

Si-Cong Ji, Philipp Schüttelkopf, Nataliia Bazhan, Federica Cataldini, Mohammadamin Tajik, Frederik S. Møller, Igor Mazets, Sebastian Erne, Jörg Schmiedmayer

quant-phcond-mat.quant-gasSubmitted Jun 3, 2026• Announced Jun 4, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

When a quantum system passes through an unstable fixed point the local dynamics reduces to the inverted harmonic oscillator (IHO). It exponentially amplifies along one quadrature while squeezing the other, producing macroscopically extended quantum states from microscopic zero-point fluctuations. We realize this dynamics with a Bose-Einstein condensate on an AtomChip. Radio-frequency dressing flips the transverse harmonic confinement into an IHO. Through phase-space tomography we follow the full Wigner function of the evolving quantum state, observe sub-vacuum squeezing of 10.6(1.3) dB, and test coherent reversibility by time-reversing the IHO evolution. Matter-wave interference between the two daughter clouds confirms quantum coherence over timescales far beyond the initial expansion. Our experiment establishes ultra-cold atoms as a clean, controlled, many-body platform for unstable quantum dynamics opening a route to force sensing with time-reversal-based coherence certification and to analog studies of the amplification of quantum fluctuations in inflationary field dynamics.

Comments
9 pages, 8 figures

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When a quantum system passes through an unstable fixed point the local dynamics reduces to the inverted harmonic oscillator (IHO). It exponentially amplifies along one quadrature while squeezing the other, producing macroscopically extended quantum states from microscopic zero-point fluctuations. We realize this dynamics with a Bose-Einstein condensate on an AtomChip. Radio-frequency dressing flips the transverse harmonic confinement into an IHO. Through phase-space tomography we follow the full Wigner function of the evolving quantum state, observe sub-vacuum squeezing of 10.6(1.3) dB, and test coherent reversibility by time-reversing the IHO evolution. Matter-wave interference between the two daughter clouds confirms quantum coherence over timescales far beyond the initial expansion. Our experiment establishes ultra-cold atoms as a clean, controlled, many-body platform for unstable quantum dynamics opening a route to force sensing with time-reversal-based coherence certification and to analog studies of the amplification of quantum fluctuations in inflationary field dynamics.
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The coherent manipulation of wave packets is an important tool in many areas of physics. We demonstrate the experimental realization of quasi-free wave packets of ultra-cold atoms bound by an external harmonic trap. The wave packets are produced by modulating the intensity of an optical lattice containing a Bose-Einstein condensate. The evolution of these wave packets is monitored in-situ and their reflection on a band gap is observed. In direct analogy with pump-probe spectroscopy, a probe pulse allows for the resonant de-excitation of the wave packet into localized lattice states at a long, controllable distance of more than 100 lattice sites from the main component. This coherent control mechanism for ultra-cold atoms thus enables controlled quantum state preparation, opening exciting perspectives for quantum metrology and simulation.
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In this thesis I report on experiments that enter a new regime in the many body physics of ultracold atomic gases. A Bose-Einstein condensate is loaded into a three-dimensional optical lattice potential formed by a standing wave laser light field. In this novel quantum system we have been able to both realize a quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator, and to observe the collapse and revival of a macroscopic matter wave field. Quantum phase transitions are driven by quantum fluctuations and occur, even at zero temperature, as the relative strength of two competing energy terms in the underlying Hamiltonian is varied across a critical value. In the first part of this work I report on the observation of such a quantum phase transition in a Bose-Einstein condensate with repulsive interactions, held in a three-dimensional optical lattice potential. In the superfluid ground state, each atom is spread-out over the entire lattice, whereas in the Mott insulating state, exact numbers of atoms are localized at individual lattice sites. We observed the reversible transition between those states and detected the gap in the excitation spectrum of the Mott insulator. A Bose-Einstein condensate is usually described by a macroscopic matter wave field. However, a quantized field underlies such a "classical" matter wave field of a Bose-Einstein condensate. The striking behavior of ultracold matter due to the field quantization and the nonlinear interactions between the atoms is the focus of the second part of this work. The matter wave field of a Bose-Einstein condensate is observed to undergo a series of collapses and revivals as time evolves. Furthermore, we show that the collisions between individual pairs of atoms lead to a fully coherent collisional phase shift in the corresponding many-particle state, which is a crucial cornerstone of proposed novel quantum computation schemes with neutral atoms. With these experiments we enter a new field of physics with ultracold quantum gases. In this strongly correlated regime, interactions between atoms dominate the behavior of the many-body system such that it can no longer be described by the usual theories for weakly interacting Bose gases. This novel quantum system offers the unique possibility to experimentally address fundamental questions of modern solid state physics, atomic physics, quantum optics, and quantum information.
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