Related papers: Two approaches in the theory of atom interferometr…
A generalized Feynman-Kac formula based on the Wiener measure is presented. Within the setting of a quantum particle in an electromagnetic field it yields the standard Feynman-Kac formula for the corresponding Schr\"odinger semigroup. In…
An alternative method to the density matrix formalism for the derivation of general expressions of the interaction of polarized atoms with polarized photons and electrons is presented. The expression for the cross-section describing the…
It is a commonly stated that the acceleration sensitivity of an atom interferometer is proportional to the space-time area enclosed between the two interfering arms. Here we derive the interferometric phase shift for an extensive class of…
Long-time atom interferometry is instrumental to various high-precision measurements of fundamental physical properties, including tests of the equivalence principle. Due to rotations and gravity gradients, the classical trajectories…
We address the question of how to model electron transport through closed Aharonov-Bohm interferometers which contain quantum dots. By explicitly studying interferometers with one and two quantum dots, we establish the connection between a…
Path integrals similar to those describing stiff polymers arise in the Helfrich model for membranes. We show how these types of path integrals can be evaluated and apply our results to study the thermodynamics of a minority stripe phase in…
We report on an original and simple formulation of the phase shift in N-light-pulse atom interferometers. We consider atomic interferometers based on two-photon transitions (Raman transitions or Bragg pulses). Starting from the exact…
The computation of the phase shift in a symmetric atom interferometer in the presence of a gravitational field is reviewed. The difference of action-phase integrals between the two paths of the interferometer is zero for any Lagrangian…
We study the dynamics of light interacting with a near-resonant atomic medium using the truncated Wigner and positive P phase-space representations. The atomic degrees of freedom are described using the Jordan-Schwinger mapping. The…
Using a thermal gas, we model the signal of a trapped interferometer. This interferometer uses two short laser pulses, separated by time T, which act as a phase grating for the matter waves. Near time 2T, there is an echo in the cloud's…
To quantify the effect of decoherence in quantum measurements, it is desirable to measure not merely the square modulus of the spatial wavefunction, but the entire density matrix, whose phases carry information about momentum and how pure…
We calculate the admittance of a two-dimensional quantum point contact (QPC) using a Boltzman-like kinetic equation derived for a partial Wigner distribution function in an effective potential. We show that this approach leads to the known…
Atom interferometry relies on the separation and recombination of atom wavepackets. When the two paths overlap perfectly at the end of the interferometer, the phase is insensitive to the atomic velocity distribution. Here, we show that,…
A phase space formulation of the filtering process upon an incident quantum state is developed. This formulation can explain the results of both quantum interference and delayed-choice experiments without making use of the controversial…
When a photon is detected after passing through an interferometer one might wonder which path it took, and a meaningful answer can only be given if one has the means of monitoring the photon's whereabouts. We report the realization of a…
In quantum statistical mechanics, Moyal's equation governs the time evolution of Wigner functions and of more general Weyl symbols that represent the density matrix of arbitrary mixed states. A formal solution to Moyal's equation is given…
Wigner's quasi-probability distribution function in phase-space is a special (Weyl) representation of the density matrix. It has been useful in describing quantum transport in quantum optics; nuclear physics; decoherence (eg, quantum…
We calculate the radiative characteristics of emission from a system of entangled atoms which can have a relative distance larger than the emission wavelength. We develop a quantum multipath interference approach which explains both super-…
A path integral formalism for non-equilibrium systems is proposed based on a manifold of quasi-equilibrium densities. A generalized Boltzmann principle is used to weight manifold paths with the exponential of minus the information…
According to Bohr's complementarity principle, a particle possesses wave-like properties only when the different paths the particle may take are indistinguishable. In a canonical example of a two-path interferometer with a which-path…