Related papers: Decoherence-induced wave packet splitting
We analyze a double-slit experiment when the interfering particle is "mesoscopic" and one endeavors to obtain Welcher Weg information by shining light on it. We derive a compact expression for the visibility of the interference pattern:…
In this article, we propose a method to realize the "delayed choice experiment" using ultra-cold atoms. Here we attempt to probe the "welcher-Weg" information without collapsing the wavefunction of the atom. This experiment consists of…
We give a simple example of the tight connection between entanglement and coherence for pure bipartite systems showing the double role played by entanglement; it allows for the creation of superpositions of macroscopic objects but at the…
We study the dynamics of bosonic atoms in a double well potential under the influence of dissipation. The main effect of dissipation is to destroy quantum coherence and to drive the system towards a unique steady state. We study how the…
We discuss a fundamental effect of the interaction-induced decoherence of the electron wave function in disordered metals. In the first part of the paper we consider a simple model of a quantum particle interacting with a bath of harmonic…
The Stern-Gerlach experiment is the fundamental experiment in order to exhibit the quantization of spin and understand the measurement problem in quantum mechanics. However, although the Stern-Gerlach experiment plays an essential role in…
In 1927, at the Solvay conference, Einstein posed a thought experiment with the primary intention of showing the incompleteness of quantum mechanics; to prove it, he uses the instantaneous nonlocal effects caused by the collapse of the wave…
The prototypical Schr\"{o}dinger cat state, i.e., an initial state corresponding to two widely separated Gaussian wave packets, is considered. The decoherence time is calculated solely within the framework of elementary quantum mechanics…
A pulse of matter waves may dramatically change its shape when traversing an absorbing barrier with time-dependent transparency. Here we show that this effect can be utilized for controlled manipulation of spatially-localized quantum…
Within the combined potential of an optical lattice and a harmonic magnetic trap, it is possible to form matter wave packets by intensity modulation of the lattice. An analysis of the production and motion of these wave packets provides a…
We observe and measure dispersive optical non-linearities in an ensemble of cold Rydberg atoms placed inside an optical cavity. The experimental results are in agreement with a simple model where the optical non-linearities are due to the…
The Stern-Gerlach (SG) effect, discovered almost a century ago, has become a paradigm of quantum mechanics. Surprisingly there is little evidence that the original scheme with freely propagating atoms exposed to gradients from macroscopic…
In recent experiments[e.g., Nature Physics 2, 332 (2006)], the enhanced light deflection in an atomic ensemble due to inhomogeneous fields is demonstrated by the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) based mechanism. In this paper,…
We study a two-level atom coupled to a Bose-Einstein condensate. We show that the rules governing the decoherence of mesoscopic superpositions involving different classical-like states of the condensate can be probed using this system. This…
Much of the discussion of decoherence has been in terms of a particle moving in one dimension that is placed in an initial superposition state (a Schr\"{o}dinger "cat" state) corresponding to two widely separated wave packets. Decoherence…
Particle-wave duality enables the construction of interferometers for matter waves, which complement optical interferometers in precision measurement devices. This requires the development of atom-optics analogs to beam splitters, phase…
We study the effect of splitting and zitterbewegung of 1D and 2D electron wave packets in the semiconductor quantum well under the influence of the Rashba spin orbit coupling. Results of our investigations show that the spin orbit…
In a recent experiment Campbell et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 020406 (2006)] observed degenerate four-wave mixing of matter-waves in a one-dimensional optical lattice, a process with potential for generating entanglement among atoms. We…
The dressed atom approach provides a tool to investigate the dynamics of an atom-laser system by fully retaining the quantum nature of the coherent mode. In its standard derivation, the internal atom-laser evolution is described within the…
This paper considers a theoretical model of the double-slit experiment with electrons whose paths are monitored. This monitoring, inspired by a recent text by Maudlin, is performed by the Coulomb scattering of the electron by a proton. A…