Spatial quantum noise interferometry in expanding ultracold atom clouds

被引：453

作者：

Fölling, S ^{[1
]}

Gerbier, F ^{[1
]}

Widera, A ^{[1
]}

Mandel, O ^{[1
]}

Gericke, T ^{[1
]}

Bloch, I ^{[1
]}

机构：

[1] Johannes Gutenberg Univ Mainz, Inst Phys, D-55099 Mainz, Germany

来源：

NATURE | 2005年 / 434卷 / 7032期

基金：

日本学术振兴会;

关键词：

D O I：

10.1038/nature03500

中图分类号：

O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];

学科分类号：

07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;

摘要：

In a pioneering experiment(1), Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) demonstrated that noise correlations could be used to probe the properties of a (bosonic) particle source through quantum statistics; the effect relies on quantum interference between possible detection paths for two indistinguishable particles. HBT correlations - together with their fermionic counterparts(2-4) - find numerous applications, ranging from quantum optics(5) to nuclear and elementary particle physics(6). Spatial HBT interferometry has been suggested(7) as a means to probe hidden order in strongly correlated phases of ultracold atoms. Here we report such a measurement on the Mott insulator(8-10) phase of a rubidium Bose gas as it is released from an optical lattice trap. We show that strong periodic quantum correlations exist between density fluctuations in the expanding atom cloud. These spatial correlations reflect the underlying ordering in the lattice, and find a natural interpretation in terms of a multiplewave HBT interference effect. The method should provide a useful tool for identifying complex quantum phases of ultracold bosonic and fermionic atoms(11-15).

引用

页码：481 / 484

页数：4

共 30 条

[1] Probing many-body states of ultracold atoms via noise correlations [J].

Altman, E ;

Demler, E ;

Lukin, MD .

PHYSICAL REVIEW A, 2004, 70 (01) :013603-1

[2] Correlation functions of cold bosons in an optical lattice [J].

Bach, R ;

Rzaazewski, K .

PHYSICAL REVIEW A, 2004, 70 (06) :063622-1

[3]

Bachor H.A., 2004, A Guide to Experiments in Quantum Optics, V2nd

[4] Mott domains of bosons confined on optical lattices [J].

Batrouni, GG ;

Rousseau, V ;

Scalettar, RT ;

Rigol, M ;

Muramatsu, A ;

Denteneer, PJH ;

Troyer, M .

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 2002, 89 (11)

[5]

Baym G, 1998, ACTA PHYS POL B, V29, P1839

[6] CORRELATION BETWEEN PHOTONS IN 2 COHERENT BEAMS OF LIGHT [J].

BROWN, RH ;

TWISS, RQ .

NATURE, 1956, 177 (4497) :27-29

[7] Coherence, correlations, and collisions: What one learns about Bose-Einstein condensates from their decay [J].

Burt, EA ;

Ghrist, RW ;

Myatt, CJ ;

Holland, MJ ;

Cornell, EA ;

Wieman, CE .

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 1997, 79 (03) :337-340

[8] Controlling spin exchange interactions of ultracold atoms in optical lattices [J].

Duan, LM ;

Demler, E ;

Lukin, MD .

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 2003, 91 (09)

[9] Quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator in a gas of ultracold atoms [J].

Greiner, M ;

Mandel, O ;

Esslinger, T ;

Hänsch, TW ;

Bloch, I .

NATURE, 2002, 415 (6867) :39-44

[10] Exploring phase coherence in a 2D lattice of Bose-Einstein condensates -: art. no. 160405 [J].

Greiner, M ;

Bloch, I ;

Mandel, O ;

Hänsch, TW ;

Esslinger, T .

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 2001, 87 (16)

← 1 2 3 →