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

Science

The Observation of Matter Wave Fluctuations

P. L. Knight

Published Oct 27, 2005• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In the 1950s, Hanbury Brown and Twiss developed a novel way to measure the size of stars by studying the coherence of the light they emit. These intensity correlations, at the time obtained from an incoherent thermal source of radiation, were the source of confusion at first but ended up initiating an entire new field of physics: the discipline of quantum optics. In his Perspective, [Knight][1] discusses results reported in the same issue by [ Schellekens et al. ][2] in which these same correlation effects have been seen in cold atomic gases, giving rise to intensity correlations of matter waves. The findings suggest a host of new opportunities in this field of quantum atom optics. [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/310/5748/631 [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/310/5748/648

DOI
10.1126/science.1120023

Related papers

Hanbury Brown Twiss effect for matter waves (Orale)

Christoph Ira Westbrook

In spite of the predilections of the authors, the work of Hanbury Brown and Twiss on intensity interferometry may have had a more powerful impact on quantum optics than on astronomy. That it could have such an impact on quantum optics is even more surprising when one considers that the their results are more easily explained in the context of classical optics than quantum optics. Nevertheless for more than 50 years, quantum optics has been inspired by intensity interferometry and continues to add new variations and insights. I will discuss experiments using cold atoms, both bosons and fermions, and from sources both coherent and incoherent. The observations yield useful information concerning what happens in atomic systems both when they interact with each other and when they interact with light.

•May 13, 2014•0 citations

The Hanbury Brown Twiss effect for atomic matter waves

Christoph Ira Westbrook, Denis Boiron

This paper discusses our recent work on developing the matter wave analogs to the Hanbury Brown Twiss experiment. We discuss experiments using cold atoms, both bosons and fermions, both coherent and incoherent. Simple concepts from classical and quantum optics suffice to understand most of the results, but the ideas can also be traced back to the work of Einstein on the thermodynamics of Bose gases.

arXiv:1004.2384•Apr 14, 2010•1 citation

Ruling the Waves

Ian S. Osborne, Robert Coontz

T hink about coherent systems, and odds are that the first example to cross your mind will be a laser: a device that emits monochromatic light homogenized so that the photons propagate with their phase in lockstep. The well-defined wavefront of the laser beam makes it possible to focus the light to spot sizes on the order of the wavelength of the light without the aberrations usually observed with the random wavefront of incoherent light. The well-defined phase also provides a medium capable of storing and carrying information more efficiently than the intensity-modulated signals typical of incoherent sources. These useful properties of coherence have made lasers almost ubiquitous in science and technology, and that “almost” is shrinking by the day. In general, coherence comes about when individual components of a system act in unison, either in phase or with a fixed phase difference between the components. More accurately, the system can be described as a local oscillator whose wavefunction contains phase and amplitude terms that define how the system evolves in space and time. The collection of articles in this special issue describes the recent progress and developments of coherence in optical, atomic, and semiconductor systems, and how manipulating that coherence may lead to useful applications and to experimental systems for studying the elements of quantum mechanics. Since the first demonstration of the laser in 1960, progress in improving the extent of the spatial and temporal coherence of laser light has been steady. Psaltis (p. [1359][1]) reviews developments in optical coherence and highlights examples of the key role coherence has played in applications in imaging, communication, and information processing and storage. Just as lasers revolutionized the field of optics, many researchers have high expectations that other coherent systems will provide similar advances in their respective fields. Exploiting the fundamental tenet of quantum mechanics whereby particles have the properties of waves, Kasevich (p. [1363][2]) reviews coherence effects in collections of cold atoms and describes how the shorter wavelengths associated with atoms and the recent accessibility of bright coherent atom sources may lead to precision measurements beyond anything currently available to the optical regime. For integration and potential applications, the ideal system would be based in semiconductors. Snoke (p. [1368][3]) describes recent work toward the formation of coherent semiconductor systems. With coherence in the atomic and optical systems generally comprising macroscopic systems, Mabuchi and Doherty (p. [1372][4]) look at coherence effects at the quantum limit, probing the interactions between single atoms and single photons confined to high-quality cavities. In addition to providing invaluable information on the limits of quantum mechanics, such effects might also shed new light on information science in the quantum regime. The section opens with a pair of News features by staff writers Charles Seife and Robert Service. Seife presents a smattering of common applications that scientists and engineers have found for coherent waves, whether in light, sound, or subatomic particles. Service describes efforts to create new coherent sources of the type of radiation known as “hard” x-rays—a long-sought range of high frequencies with enormous potential for scientific research, technology, and medicine. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1078823 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1079430 [3]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1078082 [4]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1078446

Science•Nov 14, 2002•38 citations

New State of Matter Not So New?

Adrian Cho

AAAS MEETINGBOSTON-- At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (publisher of Science ), held here 14 to 19 February, it was revealed that the bizarre phenomenon known as Bose-Einstein condensation may have been observed many years before the discovery that won last year's Nobel Prize in physics. Other presentations discussed the explosion in our ancestors' use of [ornamental beads][1] about 40,000 years ago and a [viral threat to newborns][2]. More stories from the meeting can be found in last week's issue (see [Human Gene Count on the Rise][3] and [A Whale of a Chain Reaction][4] ) and at [www.sciencenow.org][5] and [sageke.sciencemag.org][6]. [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/295/5560/1630b [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/295/5560/1631a [3]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/295/5559/1457a [4]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/295/5559/1457b [5]: http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org [6]: http://sageke.sciencemag.org

Science•Mar 1, 2002•0 citations

Bose-Einstein Condensates Interfere and Survive

Juha Javanainen

A Bose-Einstein condensate in a dilute gas is a collective state of atoms that acts like a quantum mechanical wave with a phase. In his Perspective, [Javanainen][1] highlights the demonstration by [ Saba et al .][2] that the phase difference between two condensates can be measured without destroying the condensates. The experiments open up new ways to manipulate condensates, which are macroscopic objects, as if they were quantum mechanical entities. Measurement devices based on matter-wave interferometry are a potential application. [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/307/5717/1883 [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/307/5717/1945

Science•Mar 24, 2005•4 citations

Observation of atomic speckle and Hanbury Brown–Twiss correlations in guided matter waves

R. G. Dall, Sean S. Hodgman, Andrew Manning +3 more

Nature Communications•Apr 19, 2011•48 citations
In the 1950s, Hanbury Brown and Twiss developed a novel way to measure the size of stars by studying the coherence of the light they emit. These intensity correlations, at the time obtained from an incoherent thermal source of radiation, were the source of confusion at first but ended up initiating an entire new field of physics: the discipline of quantum optics. In his Perspective, Knight discusses results reported in the same issue by Schellekens et al. in which these same correlation effects have been seen in cold atomic gases, giving rise to intensity correlations of matter waves. The findings suggest a host of new opportunities in this field of quantum atom optics.
In spite of the predilections of the authors, the work of Hanbury Brown and Twiss on intensity interferometry may have had a more powerful impact on quantum optics than on astronomy. That it could have such an impact on quantum optics is even more surprising when one considers that the their results are more easily explained in the context of classical optics than quantum optics. Nevertheless for more than 50 years, quantum optics has been inspired by intensity interferometry and continues to add new variations and insights. I will discuss experiments using cold atoms, both bosons and fermions, and from sources both coherent and incoherent. The observations yield useful information concerning what happens in atomic systems both when they interact with each other and when they interact with light.
T hink about coherent systems, and odds are that the first example to cross your mind will be a laser: a device that emits monochromatic light homogenized so that the photons propagate with their phase in lockstep. The well-defined wavefront of the laser beam makes it possible to focus the light to spot sizes on the order of the wavelength of the light without the aberrations usually observed with the random wavefront of incoherent light. The well-defined phase also provides a medium capable of storing and carrying information more efficiently than the intensity-modulated signals typical of incoherent sources. These useful properties of coherence have made lasers almost ubiquitous in science and technology, and that “almost” is shrinking by the day. In general, coherence comes about when individual components of a system act in unison, either in phase or with a fixed phase difference between the components. More accurately, the system can be described as a local oscillator whose wavefunction contains phase and amplitude terms that define how the system evolves in space and time. The collection of articles in this special issue describes the recent progress and developments of coherence in optical, atomic, and semiconductor systems, and how manipulating that coherence may lead to useful applications and to experimental systems for studying the elements of quantum mechanics. Since the first demonstration of the laser in 1960, progress in improving the extent of the spatial and temporal coherence of laser light has been steady. Psaltis (p. [1359][1]) reviews developments in optical coherence and highlights examples of the key role coherence has played in applications in imaging, communication, and information processing and storage. Just as lasers revolutionized the field of optics, many researchers have high expectations that other coherent systems will provide similar advances in their respective fields. Exploiting the fundamental tenet of quantum mechanics whereby particles have the properties of waves, Kasevich (p. [1363][2]) reviews coherence effects in collections of cold atoms and describes how the shorter wavelengths associated with atoms and the recent accessibility of bright coherent atom sources may lead to precision measurements beyond anything currently available to the optical regime. For integration and potential applications, the ideal system would be based in semiconductors. Snoke (p. [1368][3]) describes recent work toward the formation of coherent semiconductor systems. With coherence in the atomic and optical systems generally comprising macroscopic systems, Mabuchi and Doherty (p. [1372][4]) look at coherence effects at the quantum limit, probing the interactions between single atoms and single photons confined to high-quality cavities. In addition to providing invaluable information on the limits of quantum mechanics, such effects might also shed new light on information science in the quantum regime. The section opens with a pair of News features by staff writers Charles Seife and Robert Service. Seife presents a smattering of common applications that scientists and engineers have found for coherent waves, whether in light, sound, or subatomic particles. Service describes efforts to create new coherent sources of the type of radiation known as “hard” x-rays—a long-sought range of high frequencies with enormous potential for scientific research, technology, and medicine. [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1078823 [2]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1079430 [3]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1078082 [4]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.1078446
AAAS MEETINGBOSTON-- At the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (publisher of Science ), held here 14 to 19 February, it was revealed that the bizarre phenomenon known as Bose-Einstein condensation may have been observed many years before the discovery that won last year's Nobel Prize in physics. Other presentations discussed the explosion in our ancestors' use of [ornamental beads][1] about 40,000 years ago and a [viral threat to newborns][2]. More stories from the meeting can be found in last week's issue (see [Human Gene Count on the Rise][3] and [A Whale of a Chain Reaction][4] ) and at [www.sciencenow.org][5] and [sageke.sciencemag.org][6]. [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/295/5560/1630b [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/295/5560/1631a [3]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/295/5559/1457a [4]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/295/5559/1457b [5]: http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org [6]: http://sageke.sciencemag.org
A Bose-Einstein condensate in a dilute gas is a collective state of atoms that acts like a quantum mechanical wave with a phase. In his Perspective, [Javanainen][1] highlights the demonstration by [ Saba et al .][2] that the phase difference between two condensates can be measured without destroying the condensates. The experiments open up new ways to manipulate condensates, which are macroscopic objects, as if they were quantum mechanical entities. Measurement devices based on matter-wave interferometry are a potential application. [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/307/5717/1883 [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/307/5717/1945