English

Generating persistent-current superpositions in Bose-Einstein condensates using dynamic optical potentials

Quantum Gases 2026-01-30 v1 Quantum Physics

Abstract

Precise and flexible manipulation of the motional state of ultracold atoms is a fundamental enabling technology for diverse applications such as quantum sensing and quantum computation. In this paper we propose a general, simple and highly efficient method to engineer the motional state of a Bose-Einstein condensate with time-dependent optical fields, which can be realized experimentally with existing light sculpting techniques. We demonstrate numerically how to engineer superpositions of persistent currents in a toroidal trap, achieving very high fidelity. We also study in detail the stability of the state over time, and we present an analytical two-state model that approximates well the evolution of the state in presence of self-interactions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2601.21144,
  title  = {Generating persistent-current superpositions in Bose-Einstein condensates using dynamic optical potentials},
  author = {Renzo Testa and Donatella Cassettari},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2601.21144},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

11 pages, 9 figures

R2 v1 2026-07-01T09:24:50.235Z