Quantum interference effects on fermion clustering in a fermion interferometer

Mark P. Silverman

David S. Simon, Christopher R. Schwarze, Alexander V. Sergienko

We describe a quantum walk in which photons remain clustered together as they walk along a chain. This effect can be used to construct higher-dimensional quantum Sagnac interferometers that measure rotaƟons about three axes simultaneously.

Yu.L. Dobrynin, V. V. Lomonosov

Peter Alexander Bouvrie, A. P. Majtey, Francisco Figueiredo +1 more

Abstract Feshbach molecules forming a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) behave as non-ideal bosonic particles due to their underlying fermionic structure. We study the observable consequences of the fermion exchange interactions in the interference of molecular BECs for entangled-enhanced precision measurements. Our many-body treatment of the molecular condensate is based on an ansatz of composite two-fermion bosons which accounts for all possible fermion exchange correlations present in the system. The Pauli principle acts prohibitively on the particle fluctuations during the interference process leading to a loss of precision in phase estimations. However, we find that, in the regime where molecular dissociations do not jeopardize the interference dynamics, measurements of the phase can still be performed with a precision beyond the classical limit comparable to atomic interferometers. We also show that the effects of Pauli principle increases with the noise of the particle detectors such that molecular interferometers would require more efficient detectors.

Bernard Yurke

Klaus Hornberger, Stefan Gerlich, Philipp Haslinger +2 more

Recent progress and future prospects of matter-wave interferometry with complex organic molecules and inorganic clusters are reviewed. Three variants of a near-field interference effect, based on diffraction by material nanostructures, at optical phase gratings, and at ionizing laser fields are considered. The theoretical concepts underlying these experiments and the experimental challenges are discussed. This includes optimizing interferometer designs as well as understanding the role of decoherence. The high sensitivity of matter-wave interference experiments to external perturbations is demonstrated to be useful for accurately measuring internal properties of delocalized nanoparticles. The prospects for probing the quantum superposition principle are investigated in the limit of high particle mass and complexity.