Global ETD Search

1	Relative number squeezing in a Spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate Bookjans, Eva M. 15 November 2010 (has links) The quantum properties of matter waves, in particular quantum correlations and entanglement are an important frontier in atom optics with applications in quantum metrology and quantum information. In this thesis, we report the first observation of sub-Poissonian fluctuations in the magnetization of a spinor 87Rb condensate. The fluctuations in the magnetization are reduced up to 10 dB below the classical shot noise limit. This relative number squeezing is indicative of the predicted pair-correlations in a spinor condensate and lay the foundation for future experiments involving spin-squeezing and entanglement measurements. We have investigated the limits of the imaging techniques used in our lab, absorption and fluorescence imaging, and have developed the capability to measure atoms numbers with an uncertainly < 10 atoms. Condensates as small as ≈ 10 atoms were imaged and the measured fluctuations agree well with the theoretical predictions. Furthermore, we implement a reliable calibration method of our imaging system based on quantum projection noise measurements. We have resolved the individual lattice sites of a standing-wave potential created by a CO2 laser, which has a lattice spacing of 5.3 µm. Using microwaves, we site-selectively address and manipulate the condensate and therefore demonstrate the ability to perturb the lattice condensate of a local level. Interference between condensates in adjacent lattice sites and lattice sites separated by a lattice site are observed. CO2 laser lattice potential Resolving lattice sites Addressing single lattice sites Atom interference Spin-mixing Small atom numbers Absorption imaging Fluorescence imaging Relative number squeezing Sub-Poissonian fluctuations Magnetization Spinor BEC Bose-Einstein condensate CO2 laser optical dipole trap Imaging noise Number fluctuations Lattice potential Quantum projection noise Atom pair correlations Imaging calibration Photon shot noise Bose-Einstein condensation Quantum optics Squeezed light

Search results

Relative number squeezing in a Spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate