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Frontiers in nuclear and particle physics

Twin Atoms from Doubly Excited States of the Hydrogen Molecule Induced by Electron Impact

Ginette Jalbert, Jacques Robert, Fábio Zappa, C. R. de Carvalho, Aline Medina, Lívia O. Santos, François Impens, N. V. de Castro Faria

Published Oct 1, 2018• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Twin photons, pairs of photons with entangled properties, are now easily produced from nonlinear optical crystals and experiments with these pairs are routinely done at different laboratories [1]. Is it possible to study the same kind of properties with twin atoms, i.e., pairs of massive particles also with entangled properties obtained simply by breaking diatomic homonuclear molecules? In this article we discuss experiments, calculations and proposal that point to this possibility.

DOI
10.2174/9781681086132118010012

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Twin photons, pairs of photons with entangled properties, are now easily produced from nonlinear optical crystals and experiments with these pairs are routinely done at different laboratories [1]. Is it possible to study the same kind of properties with twin atoms, i.e., pairs of massive particles also with entangled properties obtained simply by breaking diatomic homonuclear molecules? In this article we discuss experiments, calculations and proposal that point to this possibility.
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hysically distant quantum particles can share properties and can behave as a single object.For pairs of photons, this entangled behavior allows for data transfer between the two particles, for example.Quantum entanglement can also occur between more massive particles, including two individual atoms.Now, in a controlled experiment, Filippo Borselli of the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, and colleagues create traveling beams of entangled atoms that are reliably produced from a reservoir source using two parallel waveguides [1].The experiment could be a starting point for developing integrated quantum circuits and quantum-information processing devices that use pairs of atoms.
We propose a method for producing entangled spin and orbital states in pairs of atoms resulting from the dissociation of diatomic molecules. The method employs the interference between a one-photon and a two-photon process to break the backward-forward symmetry of the dissociation processes. The spin entanglement of distant atom pairs makes use of excited spin-orbit-coupled (molecular) intermediate states. When the dissociating molecules are confined to a one-dimensional optical lattice, the method can be used to generate long sequences of (spin- and orbit-) entangled pairs of atoms.
Very large and fragile atoms may be produced by exciting normal atoms with light or by collisions with other atomic particles. Atoms as large as 10−6 m are now routinely produced in the laboratory and their properties studied. In this review some of the simpler experimental methods available for the production and detection of such atoms are described including tunable dye laser-excitation and field ionization. A few recent experiments which illustrate the collision properties and the effects of electric and magnetic fields are also described. The relevance of highly excited atoms in other areas of research including radioastronomy and isotope separation are discussed.
It is a difficult task to obtain “twin atoms”, i.e. pairs of massive particles such that one can perform experiments in the same fashion that is routinely done with “twin photons”. One possible route to obtain such pairs is by dissociating homonuclear diatomic molecules. We address this possibility by investigating the production of metastable H(2s) atoms coming from the dissociation of cold H2 molecules produced in a Campargue nozzle beam crossing an electron beam from a high intensity pulsed electron gun. Dissociation by electron impact was chosen to avoid limitations of target molecular excited states due to selection rules. Detectors placed several centimeters away from the collision center, and aligned with respect to possible common molecular dissociation channel, analyze the neutral fragments as a function of their time-of-flight (TOF) through Lyman-α detection. Evidence for the first time observed coincidence of pairs of H(2s) atoms obtained this way is presented.