Hannover 2010 – scientific programme
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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik
Q 21: Poster I
Q 21.10: Poster
Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 16:00–19:00, Lichthof
Parametric amplification of vacuum fluctuations in spinor Bose-Einstein condensates — Carsten Klempt1, Oliver Topic1, Garu Gebreyesus2, Manuel Scherer1, •Bernd Lücke1, Frank Deuretzbacher2, Phillip Hyllus3, Wolfgang Ertmer1, Luis Santos2, and Jan Arlt1 — 1Institut für Quantenoptik, Leibniz Universität Hannover — 2Institut für theoretische Physik, Leibniz Universität Hannover — 3INFM BEC, Trento
The nature of the vacuum state and its fluctuations constitutes one of the most fascinating aspects of modern physics. Particularly in optics parametric amplification of such fluctuations is an important tool for generating non-classical states of light. These concepts can be transfered to matter-wave optics using spinor Bose-Einstein condensates.
To demonstrate this we use a sample initially prepared in the mF = 0 state, where spin-changing collisions triggered by quantum fluctuations may lead to the creation of correlated pairs in mF = ± 1. We show that the pair creation efficiency is strongly influenced by the interplay between the quadratic Zeeman effect and the confinement in the external trapping potential. This confinement has previously been neglected in homogeneous approximations and leads to a multi-resonant dependence on the magnetic field.
On these resonances we conclusively demonstrate that the system can act as a parametric amplifier for vacuum fluctuations, providing a new microscope to investigate the vacuum state and a promising method for entanglement and squeezing production in matter waves.