Parametric Amplification of Vacuum Fluctuations in a Spinor Condensate

C. Klempt, O. Topic, G. Gebreyesus, M. Scherer, T. Henninger, P. Hyllus, W. Ertmer, L. Santos, and J. J. Arlt
Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 195303 – Published 12 May 2010

Abstract

Parametric amplification of vacuum fluctuations is crucial in modern quantum optics, enabling the creation of squeezing and entanglement. We demonstrate the parametric amplification of vacuum fluctuations for matter waves using a spinor F=2 Rb87 condensate. Interatomic interactions lead to correlated pair creation in the mF=±1 states from an initial mF=0 condensate, which acts as a vacuum for mF0. Although this pair creation from a pure mF=0 condensate is ideally triggered by vacuum fluctuations, unavoidable spurious initial mF=±1 atoms induce a classical seed which may become the dominant triggering mechanism. We show that pair creation is insensitive to a classical seed for sufficiently large magnetic fields, demonstrating the dominant role of vacuum fluctuations. The presented system thus provides a direct path towards the generation of nonclassical states of matter.

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  • Received 8 October 2009

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.195303

©2010 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

C. Klempt1, O. Topic1, G. Gebreyesus2, M. Scherer1, T. Henninger1, P. Hyllus3, W. Ertmer1, L. Santos2, and J. J. Arlt4

  • 1Institut für Quantenoptik, Leibniz Universität Hannover, D-30167 Hannover, Germany
  • 2Institut für Theoretische Physik, Leibniz Universität Hannover, D-30167 Hannover, Germany
  • 3BEC-INFM, Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Trento, Via Sommarive 14, I-38050 Povo, Italy
  • 4QUANTOP, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Aarhus, 8000 Århus C, Denmark

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Vol. 104, Iss. 19 — 14 May 2010

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