Macroscopic Superpositions of Phase States with Bose-Einstein Condensates
Other Condensed Matter
2008-11-06 v2
Abstract
Quantum superpositions of macroscopically distinguishable states having distinct phases can be created with a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a periodic potential. The experimental signature is contained in the phase distribution of the interference patterns obtained after releasing the traps. Moreover, in the double well case, this distribution exhibits a dramatic dependence on the parity of the total number of atoms. We finally show that, for single well occupations up to a few hundred atoms, the macroscopic quantum superposition can be robust enough against decoherence to be experimentally revealable within current technology.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0803.2265,
title = {Macroscopic Superpositions of Phase States with Bose-Einstein Condensates},
author = {F. Piazza and L. Pezze' and A. Smerzi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0803.2265},
year = {2008}
}