QUROPE Quantum Information Processing and Communication in Europe

Interferometry with ultracold atoms promises the possibility of ultraprecise and ultrasensitive measurements in many fields of physics, and is the basis of our most precise atomic clocks. Key to a high sensitivity is the possibility to achieve long measurement times and precise readout. Ultracold atoms can be precisely manipulated at the quantum level and can be held for very long times in traps; they would therefore be an ideal setting for interferometry.

We study the collisional processes that can lead to thermalization in one-dimensional (1D) systems. For two-body collisions, excitations of transverse modes are the prerequisite for energy exchange and thermalization. At very low temperatures, excitations of transverse modes are exponentially suppressed, thermalization by two-body collisions stops and the system should become integrable. In quantum mechanics, virtual excitations of higher radial modes are possible.

We measure the two-point density correlation function of freely expanding quasicondensates in the weakly interacting quasi-one-dimensional (1D) regime. While initially suppressed in the trap, density fluctuations emerge gradually during expansion as a result of initial phase fluctuations present in the trapped quasicondensate. Asymptotically, they are governed by the thermal coherence length of the system.

We apply optimal control theory to the dynamic splitting process of a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC). Number squeezing of two spatially separated BECs is important for interferometry applications and inhibits phase diffusion due to the nonlinear atom–atom interactions. We show how optimal number squeezing can be obtained on time scales much shorter compared to adiabatic splitting. The non- adiabatic time evolution of the condensates is controlled via the trap geometry, thus making our control schemes directly applicable to experiments.

Ultracold atoms on atom chips, Bose-Einstein condensation, quantum metrology, spin-squeezing, chip-based atomic clocks, quantum information processing, hybrid quantum systems, micro- and nanomechanical oscillators

We show how dissipative dynamics can give rise to pairing for two-component fermions on a lattice. In particular, we construct a "parent" Liouvillian operator so that a BCS-type state of a given symmetry, e.g. a d-wave state, is reached for arbitrary initial states in the absence of conservative forces. The system-bath couplings describe single-particle, number conserving and quasi-local processes. The pairing mechanism crucially relies on Fermi statistics.

We report heating rate measurements in a microfabricated gold-on-sapphire surface electrode ion trap with trapping height of approximately 240 micron. Using the Doppler recooling method, we characterize the trap heating rates over an extended region of the trap. The noise spectral density of the trap falls in the range of noise spectra reported in ion traps at room temperature. We find that during the first months of operation the heating rates increase by approximately one order of magnitude.