Vortex conveyor belt for matter-wave coherent splitting and interferometry

Abstract

We numerically study a matter wave interferometer realized by splitting a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate with phase imprinting. We show that a simple step-like imprinting pattern rapidly decays into a string of vortices that can generate opposite velocities on the two halves of the condensate. We first study in detail the splitting and launching effect of these vortex structures, whose functioning resembles the one of a conveyor belt, and we show that the initial exit velocity along the vortex conveyor belt can be controlled continuously by adjusting the vortex distance. We finally characterize the complete interferometric sequence, demonstrating how the phase of the resulting interference fringe can be used to measure an external acceleration. The proposed scheme has the potential to be developed into compact and high precision accelerometers.

Quasi-integrability and nonlinear resonances in cold atoms under modulation

“…Evolution in the fields of ultracold atoms and quantum physics in the past few decades has led to the recognition of these fields as a huge well-acclaimed arena for the exploration of popular subjects like quantum chaos [1], Feshbach resonances [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12], ultracold atomic mixtures [13][14][15][16][17][18], atom interferometry [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33], atomic clocks [34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44], quantum diffraction [45,46] and quantum thermodynamics [47][48]…”

Making ghost vortices visible in two-component Bose-Einstein condensates

“…Interestingly, in a many-body description of trapped BECs, it is possible to recognize the presence of "phantom vortices", topological defects of the spatial coherence, but not of the density [27]. Ghost vortices play a crucial role also in some recent technological applications, where coherent matter waves can be conveniently employed to realize high-precision accelerometers [28,29], and to characterize the current-phase relationship of quantum devices [30].…”