Need for relativistic corrections in the analysis of spatial adiabatic passage of matter waves

A. Benseny, J. Bagudà, X. Oriols, and J. Mompart
Phys. Rev. A 85, 053619 – Published 15 May 2012

Abstract

We investigate the coherent transport of a single particle and a Bose-Einstein condensate between the two extreme traps of a triple-well potential by means of the spatial adiabatic passage technique. This matter wave transport technique consists of adiabatically following an energy eigenstate of the system that only populates the vibrational ground states of the two extreme wells and presents at all times a node in the central region. Unraveling the (nonlinear) time-dependent Schrödinger equation in terms of Bohmian quantum trajectories, we show that by slowing down the total time duration of the transport process, Bohmian velocities in the central region are orders of magnitude larger than the mean atomic velocities. This leads to a very counterintuitive effect: in the regime of almost perfect adiabaticity, these velocities require relativistic corrections to properly address the transfer process and avoid superluminal propagation.

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  • Received 21 July 2011

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.85.053619

©2012 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

A. Benseny1, J. Bagudà1, X. Oriols2, and J. Mompart1

  • 1Departament de Física, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain
  • 2Departament d’Enginyeria Electrònica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, E-08193 Bellaterra, Spain

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Issue

Vol. 85, Iss. 5 — May 2012

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