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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Probing optical lattice states with double well atom interferometry

Philip R. Johnson

Published Mar 5, 2008• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Interference patterns produced by binomially splitting atom states in a double well optical lattice can be used to probe many important properties of this system, including double well tilt (and tilt inhomogeneities), the on-site interaction energy U, atom number distribution across the lattice, vibrational excitation, and lattice state coherence, making atom interferometry a powerful tool to analyze and characterize the structure and states of optical lattice systems, an essential task if they are to realize their potential for quantum information and for a variety of other proposed uses.

DOI
10.1117/12.777757

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Interference patterns produced by binomially splitting atom states in a double well optical lattice can be used to probe many important properties of this system, including double well tilt (and tilt inhomogeneities), the on-site interaction energy U, atom number distribution across the lattice, vibrational excitation, and lattice state coherence, making atom interferometry a powerful tool to analyze and characterize the structure and states of optical lattice systems, an essential task if they are to realize their potential for quantum information and for a variety of other proposed uses.
We describe the controlled loading and measurement of number-squeezed states and Poisson states of atoms in individual sites of a double well optical lattice. These states are input to an atom interferometer that is realized by symmetrically splitting individual lattice sites into double wells, allowing atoms in individual sites to evolve independently. The two paths then interfere, creating a matter-wave double-slit diffraction pattern. The time evolution of the double-slit diffraction pattern is used to measure the number statistics of the input state. The flexibility of our double well lattice provides a means to detect the presence of empty lattice sites, an important and so far unmeasured factor in determining the purity of a Mott state.
We report on the experimental demonstration of dynamic control of the motional state of atoms in a 2D double-well optical lattice. First we describe experiments in which the atomic distributions obtained by loading Bose–Einstein condensates of rubidium atoms in the lattice are dynamically split by transforming a 2D lattice with period λ into a 2D lattice with period λ/2, and we show how this procedure allows for the study of the coherence and interaction properties of the system. Then we show how we can efficiently adiabatically transfer the population between adjacent sites of the lattice, as well as between different energy bands, by using dynamic modifications of the potential.
Precision interferometry with atomic wavepackets confined in a one-dimensional optical lattice is an emergent paradigm in quantum sensing of forces and fields, with applications in gravimetry, accelerometry, geophysics, and fundamental physics tests. We report on the realization of a lattice-trapped interferometer where the two arms are sourced from a weakly-interacting ytterbium Bose-Einstein condensate, coherently split and trapped by pulsed optical standing waves before recombination. We directly observe atomic interactions through contrast changes and phase shifts of the interferometer. By changing either the atom number or the sample volume to vary the density, we demonstrate control over interactions and optimize interferometer performance. Our observations are effectively captured by a mean-field theoretical model of the system. This work experimentally probes the boundary where improved performance from source brightening through higher phase space density transitions into a regime beyond single-atom physics in lattice-trapped atom interferometry, and opens a door to incorporating many-body effects for metrological advances in such platforms.
Abstract Interferometry with quantum droplets (QDs) has recently been investigated in several trapping configurations due to the robustness of QDs and their potential applications in quantum sensing and precision measurements. However, the effects of different splitting protocols and the optimal control of interference processes in asymmetric double-well potentials remain unclear. In this work, we investigate quantum interference and its optimal control for a QD confined in a one-dimensional asymmetric double-well potential. We show that asymmetric double-well potentials generated by two different splitting protocols can produce significantly different interference patterns. Furthermore, the interference dynamics strongly depend on the relative nonlinear interaction strength and the potential tilt. Specifically, a strong relative nonlinear interaction strength tends to induce dark solitons, whereas a large tilt favors the formation of breathing solitons. When the relative nonlinear interaction strength is much larger than the tilt, the droplet oscillates back and forth between the former double-well minima, and solitons gradually emerge in the overlapping regions during the interference process. Moreover, by choosing an appropriate adiabatic splitting velocity, we achieve optimal control of the splitting dynamics, such that the selected optimal-control state can reproduce the target interference pattern within a shorter evolution time, thereby significantly reducing the required adiabatic time. Our results provide an effective approach for realizing and optimally controlling QD interference in low-dimensional systems, and may offer useful insights for quantum-droplet-based matter-wave interferometry and coherent quantum manipulation.