Superposition of macroscopic numbers of atoms and molecules
Soft Condensed Matter
2009-11-07 v2 Atomic Physics
Chemical Physics
Quantum Physics
Abstract
We theoretically examine photoassociation of a non-ideal Bose-Einstein condensate, focusing on evidence for a macroscopic superposition of atoms and molecules. This problem raises an interest because, rather than two states of a given object, an atom-molecule system is a seemingly impossible macroscopic superposition of different objects. Nevertheless, photoassociation enables coherent intraparticle conversion, and we thereby propose a viable scheme for creating a superposition of a macroscopic number of atoms with a macroscopic number of molecules.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0103437,
title = {Superposition of macroscopic numbers of atoms and molecules},
author = {John Calsamiglia and Matt Mackie and Kalle-Antti Suominen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0103437},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, 2 figs, to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett