Bulletin of the American Physical Society

Quantum Control with Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensates

Hilary M. Hurst, Shangjie Guo, Ian B. Spielman

Published Jun 4, 2020• 0 citations

Abstract

Understanding and controlling many-body quantum systems in noisy environments is paramount to developing robust quantum technologies. An external environment can be thought of as a measurement reservoir which extracts information about the quantum system. Cold atoms are well suited to examine system-environment interaction via weak (i.e. minimally destructive) measurement techniques, wherein the measurement probe acts as the environment and also provides a noisy record of system dynamics. The measurement record can then be used in a feedback scheme, opening the door to real time control of quantum gases. In this talk I discuss our theoretical proposal to use weak measurement and feedback to engineer new phases in spin-1/2 Bose-Einstein condensates. We show that measurement and feedback alters the effective Hamiltonian governing system dynamics, thereby driving phase transitions reminiscent of a quantum quench for the closed system. We also develop a feedback cooling protocol which prevents runaway heating of the condensate due to measurement backaction. Our results show that measurement and feedback can alter condensate dynamics in a stable, controllable manner and provides a route toward Hamiltonian engineering in many-body systems. Finally, I will discuss ongoing experimental work to realize our proposal using Rb87.

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