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We study the repulsive van der Waals interaction of cold rubidium 70S1/2 Rydberg atoms by analysis of time-delayed pair-correlation functions. After excitation, Rydberg atoms are allowed to accelerate under the influence of the van der Waals force. Their positions are then measured using a single-atom imaging technique. From the average pair-correlation function of the atom positions we obtain the initial atom-pair separation and the terminal velocity, which yield the van der Waals interaction coefficient C6. The measured C6 value agrees well with calculations. The experimental method has been validated by simulations. The data hint at anisotropy in the overall expansion, caused by the shape of the excitation volume. Our measurement implies that the interacting entities are individual Rydberg atoms, not groups of atoms that coherently share a Rydberg excitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A continuous-wave atom laser formed by the outcoupling of atoms from a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) potentially has a range of metrological applications. However, in order for the device to be truly continuous, a mechanism to replenish the atoms in the BEC is required. Here we calculate the temporal coherence properties of a continuously pumped atom laser beam outcoupled from a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate that is replenished from a reservoir at finite temperature. We find that the thermal fluctuations of the condensate can significantly decrease the temporal coherence of the output beam due to atomic interactions between the trapped BEC and the beam, and this can impact the metrological usefulness of the device. We demonstrate that a Raman outcoupling scheme imparting a sufficient momentum kick to the atom laser beam can lead to a significantly reduced linewidth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the transport properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate formed by an ultracold gas of bosonic atoms that is coupled from a magnetic trap into a one-dimensional waveguide. Our theoretical approach to tackling this problem is based on the truncated Wigner method for which we assume the system to consist of two semi-infinite noninteracting leads and a finite interacting scattering region with two constrictions modeling an atomic quantum dot. The transmission is computed in the steady-state regime and we find a good agreement between truncated Wigner and matrix-product state calculations. We also identify clear signatures of inelastic resonant scattering by analyzing the distribution of energy in the transmitted atomic-matter wave beam. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We model the dynamics of condensation in a bimodal trap, consisting of a large reservoir region, and a tight "dimple" whose depth can be controlled. Experimental investigations have found that such dimple traps provide an efficient means of achieving condensation. In our kinetic equations, we include two- and three-body processes. The two-body processes populate the dimple, and lead to loss when one of the colliding atoms is ejected from the trap. The three-body processes produce heating and loss. We explain the principal trends, give a detailed description of the dynamics, and provide quantitative predictions for time scales and condensate yields. From these simulations, we extract optimal parameters for future experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the selective addressing of an individual atom in a pair of single-atom microtraps separated by 3 μ. Using a tunable light shift, we render the selected atom off-resonant with a global Rydberg excitation laser which is resonant with the other atom, making it possible to selectively block this atom from being excited to the Rydberg state. Furthermore we demonstrate the controlled manipulation of a two-atom entangled state by using the addressing beam to induce a phase shift onto one component of the wave function of the system, transferring it to a dark state for the Rydberg excitation light. Our results are an important step towards implementing quantum information processing and quantum simulation with large arrays of Rydberg atoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the reduced dimensionality of highly anisotropic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) in connection with the entanglement between the spatial degrees of freedom. We argue that the reduced dimensionality of the BEC is physically meaningful in a regime where spatial correlations are negligible. We handle the problem analytically within the mean-field approximation for general quasi-one-dimensional and quasi-two-dimensional geometries and obtain the optimal reduced-dimension, pure-state description of the condensate mean field. We give explicit solutions for the case of harmonic potentials, which we compare against exact numerical integration of the three-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transmission spectrum of two dipole-coupled atoms interacting with a single-mode optical cavity in the strong coupling regime is investigated theoretically for the lower and higher excitation cases. The dressed states containing the dipole-dipole interaction (DDI) are obtained by transforming the two-atom system into an effective single-atom system. We find that the DDI can enhance the effects resulting from the positive atom-cavity detunings but weakens them for the negative detuning cases for the lower excitation, which causes the spectrum to exhibit two asymmetric peaks with shifted heights and positions. For the higher excitation cases, the DDI augments the atomic saturation and leads to the deforming of the spectrum. Furthermore, the large DDI can cause the atom and the cavity to decouple, producing a singlet of the normal-mode spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a single-photon router using a single atom with an inversion center coupled to quantum multichannels made of coupled-resonator waveguides. We show that the spontaneous emission of the atom can direct single photons from one quantum channel into another. The on-demand classical field perfectly switches off the single-photon routing due to the quantum interference in the atomic amplitudes of optical transitions. Total reflections in the incident channel are due to the photonic bound state in the continuum. Two virtual channels, named the scatter-free and controllable channels, are found, which are coherent superpositions of quantum channels. Any incident photon in the scatter-free channel is totally transmitted. The propagating states of the controllable channel are orthogonal to those of the scatter-free channel. Single photons in the controllable channel can be perfectly reflected or transmitted by the atom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce an explicit scheme to realize Chern insulating phases employing cold atoms trapped in a state-dependent optical lattice and laser-induced tunneling processes. The scheme uses two internal states, a ground state and a long-lived excited state, respectively trapped in separate triangular and honeycomb optical lattices. A resonant laser coherently coupling the two internal states enables hopping between the two sublattices with a Peierls-like phase factor. Although laser-induced hopping by itself does not lead to topological bands with nonzero Chern numbers, we find that such bands emerge when adding an auxiliary lattice that perturbs the lattice structure, effectively turning it at low energies into a realization of the Haldane model: a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice breaking time-reversal symmetry. We investigate the parameters of the resulting tight-binding model using first-principles band-structure calculations to estimate the relevant regime for experimental implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from a microscopic theory for atomic scatterers, we describe the scattering of light by a single atom and study the coherent propagation of light in a cold atomic cloud in the presence of a magnetic field B in the mesoscopic regime. Nonpertubative expressions in B are given for the magneto-optical effects and optical anisotropy. We then consider the multiple-scattering regime and address the fate of the coherent-backscattering (CBS) effect. We show that, for atoms with nonzero spin in their ground state, the CBS interference contrast can be increased compared to its value when B=0, a result at variance with classical samples. We validate our theoretical results by a quantitative comparison with experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the nondemolition mapping of collective quantum coherence onto a cavity light field in a superradiant, cold-atom 87Rb Raman laser. We show theoretically that the fundamental precision of the mapping is near the standard quantum limit on phase estimation for a coherent spin state, Δφ = ..., where N is the number of atoms. The associated characteristic measurement time scale ... is collectively enhanced. The nondemolition nature of the measurement is characterized by only 0.5 photon recoils deposited per atom due to optical repumping in a time τw. We experimentally realize conditional Ramsey spectroscopy in our superradiant Raman laser, compare the results to the predicted precision, and study the mapping in the presence of decoherence, far from the steady-state conditions previously considered. Finally, we demonstrate a hybrid mode of operation in which the laser is repeatedly toggled between active and passive sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Well-controlled nonlinear interactions between light-field pulses and single atoms could be used to implement optical quantum information technologies based on qubits encoded in superpositions of coherent states of light. Here, we investigate the transformation of a coherent light field input at a single atom sufficiently far from resonance to limit the decoherence effects associated with random excitations of the atom. The conditions for suppressing multiphoton scattering to implement arbitrarily large shifts of the coherent light amplitude without decoherence are studied. It is shown that quantum-controlled coherent shifts can be achieved by sufficiently long coherent pulses, indicating the possibility of generating superpositions of coherent states with targe amplitude differences. The dominant multiphoton scattering effect associated with four-wave mixing is also identified, and the spectral and temporal characteristics of the entangled photon pairs generated by this process are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the outcoupling of a matter wave into a guide by a time-dependent spilling of the atoms from an initially trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. This process yields intrinsically a breakdown of the adiabatic condition that triggers the outcoupling of the wave function. Our analysis of the time-dependent engineering and manipulation of condensates in momentum space in this context enables us to work out the limits due to interactions in the mode quality of a guided-atom laser. This study is consistent with recent experimental observations of low transverse excitations of guided-atom lasers and suggests (i) an optimal strategy to realize such quasimonomode guided-atom lasers with, in addition, the lowest possible longitudinal velocity dispersion or alternatively (ii) a strategy for engineering the atomic flux of the atom laser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the expansion of bosonic Mott insulators in the presence of an optical lattice after switching off a confining potential. We use the Gutzwiller mean-field approximation and consider two different setups. In the first one, the expansion is restricted to one direction. We show that this leads to the emergence of two condensates with well-defined momenta, and argue that such a construct can be used to create atom lasers in optical lattices. In the second setup, we study Mott insulators that are allowed to expand in all directions in the lattice. In this case, a simple condensate is seen to develop within the mean-field approximation. However, its constituent bosons are found to populate many nonzero momentum modes. An analytic understanding of both phenomena in terms of the exact dispersion relation in the hard-core limit is presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bose-Einstein condensates of ultracold atoms can be used to sense fluctuations of the magnetic field by means of transitions into untrapped hyperfine states. It has been shown recently that counting the outcoupled atoms can yield the power spectrum of the magnetic noise. We calculate the spectral resolution function, which characterizes the condensate as a noise measurement device in this scheme. We use the description of the radio-frequency outcoupling scheme of an atom laser, which takes into account the gravitational acceleration. Employing both an intuitive and the exact three-dimensional and fully quantum mechanical approach, we derive the position-dependent spectral resolution function for condensates of different size and shape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]