The predictions of quantum mechanics often differ from our everyday experiences. In the classical case, the state of a system can be predicted precisely, assuming the exact knowledge of all parameters. This is not possible in quantum mechanics. For example, the spin of one particle can be simultaneously in two different states, until a measurement defines the actual state. If multiple particles are in such superposition states, their spins can be coupled with each other such that the measurement of one particle changes the physical state of the other particles. This coupling effect is a fundamental part of quantum mechanics and is called entanglement. It is a central requirement for applications in the fields of quantum communication, quantum cryptography and quantum computing. One possibility to create entanglement are spin-changing collisions in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate. These collisions are described by a nonlinear process, which creates non-classical correlations between all atoms of the Bose-Einstein condensate. Within this thesis, 87Rb spinor Bose-Einstein condensates are used to demonstrate Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen entanglement by the generation and analysis of a two-mode entangled state in spin space [A1]. These states are applied in an interferometric measurement with a resolution of 2.05+0.34 -0.37 dB beyond the standard quantum limit [A2]. Depending on the dynamics, the process can also be analogous to the dynamical Casimir effect [A3]. The entanglement between the particles in these publications is strongly connected with their indistinguishability. It is thus possible to make the particles distinguishable again and recover the entanglement between the now separated particles? This question is approached by cutting an entangled state of indistinguishable particles into two spatially separated atomic modes - creating a two-mode entangled state in real space. As shown in Ref. [A4], the entanglement between the two separated clouds of a Bose-Einstein condensate can be measured directly. In the future, the created state can be employed for a test of quantum nonlocality.
The predictions of quantum mechanics often differ from our everyday experiences. In the classical case, the state of a system can be predicted precisely, assuming the exact knowledge of all parameters. This is not possible in quantum mechanics. For example, the spin of one particle can be simultaneously in two different states, until a measurement defines the actual state. If multiple particles are in such superposition states, their spins can be coupled with each other such that the measurement of one particle changes the physical state of the other particles. This coupling effect is a fundamental part of quantum mechanics and is called entanglement. It is a central requirement for applications in the fields of quantum communication, quantum cryptography and quantum computing. One possibility to create entanglement are spin-changing collisions in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate. These collisions are described by a nonlinear process, which creates non-classical correlations between all atoms of the Bose-Einstein condensate. Within this thesis, 87Rb spinor Bose-Einstein condensates are used to demonstrate Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen entanglement by the generation and analysis of a two-mode entangled state in spin space [A1]. These states are applied in an interferometric measurement with a resolution of 2.05+0.34 -0.37 dB beyond the standard quantum limit [A2]. Depending on the dynamics, the process can also be analogous to the dynamical Casimir effect [A3]. The entanglement between the particles in these publications is strongly connected with their indistinguishability. It is thus possible to make the particles distinguishable again and recover the entanglement between the now separated particles? This question is approached by cutting an entangled state of indistinguishable particles into two spatially separated atomic modes - creating a two-mode entangled state in real space. As shown in Ref. [A4], the entanglement between the two separated clouds of a Bose-Einstein condensate can be measured directly. In the future, the created state can be employed for a test of quantum nonlocality.
Spin changing collisions in alkaline Bose-Einstein condensates can be employed to generate highly entangled atomic quantum states. Here, we will report on the generation of two classes of entangled states. Firstly, we demonstrate the generation of two-mode squeezed vacuum states and record their characteristic quadrature correlations by atomic homodyning. We prove that the correlations fulfill Reid’s criterion [1] for continuous-variable Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen entanglement. The homodyne measurements allow for a full tomographic reconstruction, yielding a two-mode squeezed state with a 78% fidelity. The created state can be directly applied to atom interferometry, as is exemplified by an atomic clock measurement beyond the Standard Quantum Limit. Secondly, we demonstrate entanglement between two spatially separated atomic modes. The entangled state is obtained by spatially splitting a Twin Fock state of indistinguishable atoms along a line of zero density. This structure of two separated atomic modes is obtained by utilizing an excited trap mode. The non-classical correlations between these atomic modes are verified by applying a novel entanglement criterion especially sensitive for our case. The method opens a path to exploit the recent success in the creation of many-particle entanglement in ultracold atoms for the field of quantum information, where individually addressable subsystems are required. Finally, we will show how the measurement protocol can be extended to perform a Bell test of quantum nonlocality. [1] M. Reid, Phys. Rev. A 40, 913-923 (1989)
In classical mechanics, two (or more) systems that do not interact – that do not exert any kind of force on each other – are completely separated (see Sec. 1.1), i.e. experiments performed locally on one of them cannot in any way influence experiments performed locally on the other. Quantum mechanics, on the other hand, admits that there can be a form of interdependence even in absence of physical interaction. This type of correlation goes under the name of entanglement (see Def. 5.1: p. 183). We already know that entanglement means non-factorizability of the state vector describing a system with at least two different degrees of freedom. In this chapter, we shall see that this may be the case also for systems that are very far away (space-like distant) from each other and we shall learn many interesting consequences of this state of affairs. Recent developments show that one may entangle even particles that have never interacted with each other. The starting point of the following analysis is necessarily represented by the pioneering paper of Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen, who inaugurated an incredible series of theoretical and experimental investigations right up to the present day that have confirmed the predictions of quantum mechanics. The “irony” of this history is that Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen, EPR for short, aimed to present a definitive proof of the inconsistency of quantum mechanics relative to classical physical theory. In fact, they initiated one of the most prolific fields of modern science.
Abstract These two accompanying papers are concerned with two mode entanglement for systems of identical massive bosons and the relationship to spin squeezing and other quantum correlation effects. Entanglement is a key quantum feature of composite systems in which the probabilities for joint measurements on the composite sub-systems are no longer determined from measurement probabilities on the separate sub-systems. There are many aspects of entanglement that can be studied. This two-part review focuses on the meaning of entanglement, the quantum paradoxes associated with entangled states, and the important tests that allow an experimentalist to determine whether a quantum state—in particular, one for massive bosons is entangled. An overall outcome of the review is to distinguish criteria (and hence experiments) for entanglement that fully utilize the symmetrization principle and the super-selection rules that can be applied to bosonic massive particles. In the first paper (I), the background is given for the meaning of entanglement in the context of systems of identical particles. For such systems, the requirement is that the relevant quantum density operators must satisfy the symmetrization principle and that global and local super-selection rules prohibit states in which there are coherences between differing particle numbers. The justification for these requirements is fully discussed. In the second quantization approach that is used, both the system and the sub-systems are modes (or sets of modes) rather than particles, particles being associated with different occupancies of the modes. The definition of entangled states is based on first defining the non-entangled states—after specifying which modes constitute the sub-systems. This work mainly focuses on the two mode entanglement for massive bosons, but is put in the context of tests of local hidden variable theories, where one may not be able to make the above restrictions. The review provides the detailed arguments necessary for the conclusions of a recent paper, where the question of how to rigorously demonstrate the entanglement of a two-mode Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) has been examined. In the accompanying review paper (II), we consider spin squeezing and other tests for entanglement that have been proposed for two-mode bosonic systems. We apply the approach of review (I) to determine which tests, and which modifications of the tests, are useful for detecting entanglement in massive bosonic (BEC), as opposed to photonic, systems. Several new inequalities are derived, a theory for the required two-mode interferometry is presented, and key experiments to date are analyzed.
Identical particles and entanglement are both fundamental components of quantum mechanics. However, when identical particles are condensed in a single spatial mode, the standard notions of entanglement, based on clearly identifiable subsystems, break down. This has led many to conclude that such systems have limited value for quantum information tasks, compared to distinguishable particle systems. To the contrary, we show that any entanglement formally appearing amongst the identical particles, including entanglement due purely to symmetrization, can be extracted into an entangled state of independent modes, which can then be applied to any task. In fact, the entanglement of the mode system is in one-to-one correspondence with the entanglement between the inaccessible identical particles. This settles the long-standing debate about the resource capabilities of such states, in particular spin-squeezed states of Bose-Einstein condensates, while also revealing a new perspective on how and when entanglement is generated in passive optical networks. Our results thus reveal new fundamental connections between entanglement, squeezing, and indistinguishability.
We investigate the entanglement characteristics of two general bimodal Bose-Einstein condensates---a pair of tunnel-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates and the atom-molecule Bose-Einstein condensate. We argue that the entanglement is only physically meaningful if the system is viewed as a bipartite system, where the subsystems are the two modes. The indistinguishibility of the particles in the condensate means that the atomic constituents are physically inaccessible and, thus, the degree of entanglement between individual particles, unlike the entanglement between the modes, is not experimentally relevant so long as the particles remain in the condensed state. We calculate the entanglement between the two modes for the exact ground state of the two bimodal condensates and consider the dynamics of the entanglement in the tunnel-coupled case.