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Our recent experimental work on electron spin waves in atomic hydrogen gas has prompted a revisit of the theory of the Identical Spin Rotation Effect (ISRE). A key characteristic determining the properties of the spin waves is the quality factor of ISRE. Unfortunately, calculating this quality factor takes some toil. In this paper we summarize some results of the ISRE theory in dilute gases. We also derive asymptotic formulae for the quality factor and examine their accuracy for hydrogen and $^3$He., Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures

We present an experimental study of electron spin waves in atomic hydrogen gas compressed to high densities of $\sim 5 \times 10^{18}$ cm$^{-3}$ at temperatures ranging from 0.26 to 0.6 K in strong magnetic field of 4.6 T. Hydrogen gas is in a quantum regime when the thermal de Broglie wavelength is much larger than the s-wave scattering length. In this regime the identical particle effects play major role in atomic collisions and lead to the Identical Spin Rotation effect (ISR). We observed a variety of spin wave modes caused by this effect with strong dependence on the magnetic potential caused by variations of the polarizing magnetic field. We demonstrate confinement of the ISR modes in the magnetic potential and manipulate their properties by changing the spatial profile of magnetic field. We have found that at a high enough density of H gas the magnons accumulate in their ground state in the magnetic trap and exhibit long coherence, which has a profound effect on the electron spin resonance spectra. Such macroscopic accumulation of the ground state occurs at a certain critical density of hydrogen gas, where the chemical potential of the magnons becomes equal to the energy of their ground state in the trapping potential., Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures

We consider analytically the dynamics of an arbitrary number and configuration of vortices in an annular Bose-Einstein condensate obtaining expressions for the free energy and vortex precession rates to logarithmic accuracy. We also obtain lower bounds for the lifetime of a single vortex in the annulus. Our results enable a closed-form analytic treatment of vortex-vortex interactions in the annulus that is exact in the incompressible limit. The incompressible hydrodynamics that is developed here paves the way for more general analytical treatments of vortex dynamics in non-simply connected geometries., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

We report on experimental observation of BEC-like behaviour of quantized electron spin waves (magnons) in a dense gas of spin polarized atomic hydrogen. The magnons are trapped and controlled with inhomogeneous magnetic fields, and described by a Schr\"odinger-like wave equation, in analogy to the BEC experiments with neutral atoms. We have observed the appearance of a sharp feature in the ESR spectrum displaced from the normal spin wave spectrum. We believe that this observation corresponds to a sudden growth of the ground state population of the magnons and emergence of their spontaneous coherence for hydrogen gas densities exceeding a critical value, dependent on the trapping potential. We interpret the results as a BEC of non-equilibrium magnons which were formed by applying the rf power., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures Supplemental material: 3 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters

We show how boundary effects can cause a Bose-Einstein condensate to periodically oscillate between a (circular) array of quantised vortex-antivortex pairs and a (ring) dark soliton. If the boundary is restrictive enough, the ring dark soliton becomes long-lived., Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures

We propose a protocol for the simultaneous controlled creation of multiple concentric ring dark solitons in a toroidally trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. The decay of these solitons into a vortex-antivortex necklace shows revivals of the soliton structure, but eventually becomes an example of quantum turbulence., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures

Level crossing models for two-state quantum systems are applicable to a wide variety of physical problems. We address the special case of level glancing, i.e., when energy levels reach a degeneracy at a specific point of time, but never actually cross. The simplest model with such behaviour is the parabolic model, and its generalizations, which we call superparabolic models. We discuss their basic characteristics, complementing the previous work on the related nonlinear crossing models [Phys. Rev. A 59, 4580 (1999)]., Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures

We present a high magnetic field study of electron spin waves in atomic hydrogen gas compressed to high densities of 10^18 cm^-3 at temperatures ranging from 0.26 to 0.6 K. We observed a variety of spin wave modes caused by the identical spin rotation effect with strong dependence on the spatial profile of the polarizing magnetic field. We demonstrate confinement of these modes in regions of strong magnetic field and manipulate their spatial distribution by changing the position of the field maximum., Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures

We study the strong coupling limit of a quadratic-nonlinear Landau-Zener problem for coherent photo- and magneto-association of cold atoms taking into account the atom-atom, atom-molecule, and molecule-molecule elastic scattering. Using an exact third-order nonlinear differential equation for the molecular state probability, we develop a variational approach which enables us to construct a highly accurate and simple analytic approximation describing the time dynamics of the coupled atom-molecule system. We show that the approximation describing time evolution of the molecular state probability can be written as a sum of two distinct terms; the first one, being a solution to a limit first-order nonlinear equation, effectively describes the process of the molecule formation while the second one, being a scaled solution to the linear Landau-Zener problem (but now with negative effective Landau-Zener parameter as long as the strong coupling regime is considered), corresponds to the remaining oscillations which come up when the process of molecule formation is over., Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J. D

We present a rigorous analysis of the Landau-Zener linear-in-time term crossing problem for quadratic-nonlinear systems relevant to the coherent association of ultracold atoms in degenerate quantum gases. Our treatment is based on an exact third-order nonlinear differential equation for the molecular state probability. Applying a variational two-term ansatz, we construct a simple approximation that accurately describes the whole-time dynamics of coupled atom-molecular system for any set of involved parameters. Ensuring an absolute error less than for the final transition probability, the resultant solution improves by several orders of magnitude the accuracy of the previous approximations by A. Ishkhanyan et al. developed separately for the weak coupling [J. Phys. A 38, 3505 (2005)] and strong interaction [J. Phys. A 39, 14887 (2006)] limits. In addition, the constructed approximation covers the whole moderate-coupling regime, providing for this intermediate regime the same accuracy as for the two mentioned limits. The obtained results reveal the remarkable observation that for the strong-coupling limit the resonance crossing is mostly governed by the nonlinearity, while the coherent atom-molecular oscillations arising soon after the resonance has been crossed are basically of linear nature. This observation is supposed to be of a general character due to the basic attributes of the resonance crossing processes in the nonlinear quantum systems of the discussed type of involved quadratic nonlinearity.

The Rosen-Zener model for association of atoms in a Bose-Einstein condensate is studied. Using a nonlinear Volterra integral equation, we obtain an analytic formula for final probability of the transition to the molecular state for weak interaction limit. Considering the strong coupling limit of high field intensities, we show that the system reveals two different time-evolution pictures depending on the detuning of the frequency of the associating field. For both limit cases we derive highly accurate formulas for the molecular state probability valid for the whole range of variation of time. Using these formulas, we show that at large detuning regime the molecule formation process occurs almost non-oscillatory in time and a Rosen-Zener pulse is not able to associate more than one third of atoms at any time point. The system returns to its initial all-atomic state at the end of the process and the maximal transition probability is achieved when the field intensity reaches its peak. In contrast, at small detuning the evolution of the system displays large-amplitude oscillations between atomic and molecular populations. We find that the shape of the oscillations in the first approximation is defined by the field detuning only. Finally, a hidden singularity of the Rosen-Zener model due to the specific time-variation of the field amplitude at the beginning of the interaction is indicated. It is this singularity that stands for many of the qualitative and quantitative properties of the model. The singularity may be viewed as an effective resonance-touching.

Two distinct strongly non-linear scenarios of molecule formation in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (either by photoassociation or Feshbach resonance) corresponding to large and small field detuning are revealed. By examining arbitrary external field configurations, we show that the association process in the first case is almost non-oscillatory in time while in the second case the evolution of the system displays strongly pronounced Rabi-type oscillations. We construct highly accurate approximate solutions for both limit cases. We show that at strong coupling limit the non-crossing models are able to provide conversion of no more than one third of the initial atomic population. Finally, we show that for constant-amplitude models involving a finite final detuning the strong interaction limit is not optimal for molecule formation.

We study the effects of spontaneous emission on the entanglement dynamics of two qubits interacting with a common Lorentzian structured reservoir. We assume that the qubits are initially prepared in a Bell-like state. We focus on the strong coupling regime and study the entanglement dynamics for different regions of the spontaneous emission decay parameter. This investigation allows us to explore the cross-over between common and independent reservoirs in entanglement dynamics.

We study the exact entanglement dynamics of two qubits interacting with a common zero-temperature non-Markovian reservoir. We consider the two qubits initially prepared in Bell-like states or extended Werner-like states. We study the dependence of the entanglement dynamics on both the degree of purity and the amount of entanglement of the initial state. We also explore the relation between the entanglement and the von Neumann entropy dynamics and find that these two quantities are correlated for initial Bell-like states., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures

We discuss in detail how non-Markovian open system dynamics can be described in terms of quantum jumps [J. Piilo et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 180402 (2008)]. Our results demonstrate that it is possible to have a jump description contained in the physical Hilbert space of the reduced system. The developed non-Markovian quantum jump (NMQJ) approach is a generalization of the Markovian Monte Carlo Wave Function (MCWF) method into the non-Markovian regime. The method conserves both the probabilities in the density matrix and the norms of the state vectors exactly, and sheds new light on non-Markovian dynamics. The dynamics of the pure state ensemble illustrates how local-in-time master equation can describe memory effects and how the current state of the system carries information on its earlier state. Our approach solves the problem of negative jump probabilities of the Markovian MCWF method in the non-Markovian regime by defining the corresponding jump process with positive probability. The results demonstrate that in the theoretical description of non-Markovian open systems, there occurs quantum jumps which recreate seemingly lost superpositions due to the memory., Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures. V2: Published version. Discussion section shortened and some other minor changes according to the referee's suggestions

The dissipative dynamics of a quantum Brownian particle is studied for different types of environment. We derive analytic results for the time evolution of the mean energy of the system for Ohmic, sub-Ohmic and super-Ohmic environments, without performing the Markovian approximation. Our results allow to establish a direct link between the form of the environmental spectrum and the thermalization dynamics. This in turn leads to a natural explanation of the microscopic physical processes ruling the system time evolution both in the short-time non-Markovian region and in the long-time Markovian one. Our comparative study of thermalization for different environments sheds light on the physical contexts in which non-Markovian dissipation effects are dominant., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, v2: added new references and paragraphs

We study the exact entanglement dynamics of two qubits in a common structured reservoir. We demonstrate that, for certain classes of entangled states, entanglement sudden death occurs, while for certain initially factorized states, entanglement sudden birth takes place. The backaction of the non-Markovian reservoir is responsible for revivals of entanglement after sudden death has occurred, and also for periods of disentanglement following entanglement sudden birth., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures

We provide an exact and complete characterization of the entanglement dynamics of two qubits coupled to a common structured reservoir at zero temperature. We derive the conditions to maximize reservoir-induced entanglement for an initially factorized state of the two-qubit system. In particular, when the two qubits are placed inside a lossy cavity, we show that high values of entanglement can be obtained, even in the bad cavity limit, in the dispersive regime. Finally we show that, under certain conditions, the entanglement dynamics exhibits quantum beats and we explain their physical origin in terms of the interference between two different transitions coupling the dressed states of the system., Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures

We study the time-evolution of an optically trapped spinor Bose-Einstein condensate under the influence of a dominating magnetic bias field in the z-direction, and a perpendicular smaller field that couples the spinor states. We show that if the bias field depends quadratically on time, the relative phases of the spinor components affect the populations of the final state. This allows one to measure the differences in the time-evolution of the relative phases, thereby realizing a multi-arm interferometer in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate., Comment: 6 Pages, 1 figure

We investigate the non-Markovian dynamics of two-state systems in structured reservoirs. We establish a connection between two theoretical quantum approaches, the pseudomodes [B. M. Garraway, Phys. Rev. A 55, 2290 (1997)] and the recently developed non-Markovian quantum jump method [J. Piilo et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 180402 (2008)]. This connection provides a clear physical picture of how the structured reservoir affects the system dynamics, indicating the role of the pseudomodes as an effective description of the environmental memory., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. V2: minor changes, published version

We provide a microscopic derivation for the non-Markovian master equation for an atom-cavity system with cavity losses and show that they can induce population trapping in the atomic excited state, when the environment outside the cavity has a non-flat spectrum. Our results apply to hybrid solid state systems and can turn out to be helpful to find the most appropriate description of leakage in the recent developments of cavity quantum electrodynamics., Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures

In population trapping the occupation of a decaying quantum level keeps a constant non-zero value. We show that an atom-cavity system interacting with an environment characterized by a non-flat spectrum, in the non-Markovian limit, exhibits such a behavior, effectively realizing the preservation of nonclassical states against dissipation. Our results allow to understand the role of cavity losses in hybrid solid state systems and pave the way to the proper description of leakage in the recently developed cavity quantum electrodynamic systems., Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, version accepted for publication on Phys. Rev. A

A microscopic derivation of the master equation for the Jaynes-Cummings model with cavity losses is given, taking into account the terms in the dissipator which vary with frequencies of the order of the vacuum Rabi frequency. Our approach allows to single out physical contexts wherein the usual phenomenological dissipator turns out to be fully justified and constitutes an extension of our previous analysis [Scala M. {\em et al.} 2007 Phys. Rev. A {\bf 75}, 013811], where a microscopic derivation was given in the framework of the Rotating Wave Approximation., Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure

Open quantum systems that interact with structured reservoirs exhibit non-Markovian dynamics. We present a quantum jump method for treating the dynamics of such systems. This approach is a generalization of the standard Monte Carlo Wave Function (MCWF) method for Markovian dynamics. The MCWF method identifies decay rates with jump probabilities and fails for non-Markovian systems where the time-dependent rates become temporarily negative. Our non-Markovian quantum jump (NMQJ) approach circumvents this problem and provides an efficient unravelling of the ensemble dynamics., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures.V2: rewritten abstract and introduction, title modified. V3: published version, new example case with photonic band gap

We present a simple but efficient geometrical method for determining the inert states of spin-S systems. It can be used if the system is described by a spin vector of a spin-S particle and its energy is invariant in spin rotations and phase changes. Our method is applicable to an arbitrary S and it is based on the representation of a pure spin state of a spin-S particle in terms of 2S points on the surface of a sphere. We use this method to find candidates for some of the ground states of spinor Bose-Einstein condensates., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, minor changes, references added, typos corrected

We demonstrate the possibility of controlling the border between the quantum and the classical world by performing nonselective measurements on quantum systems. We consider a quantum harmonic oscillator initially prepared in a Schroedinger cat state and interacting with its environment. We show that the environment induced decoherence transforming the cat state into a statistical mixture can be strongly inhibited by means of appropriate sequences of measurements., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures

We show theoretically how the periodic coupling between an engineered reservoir and a quantum Brownian particle leads to the formation of a dynamical steady state which is characterized by an effective temperature above the temperature of the environment. The average steady state energy of the system has a higher value than expected from the environmental properties. The system experiences repeatedly a non-Markovian behavior -- as a consequence the corresponding effective decay for long evolution times is always on average stronger than the Markovian one. We also highlight the consequences of the scheme to the Zeno--anti-Zeno crossover which depends, in addition to the periodicity $\tau$, also on the total evolution time of the system., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. V2: Minor modifications according to the referee's suggestions and title modified

We have developed Monte Carlo wave function simulation schemes to study cold collisions between magnesium atoms in a strong red-detuned laser field. In order to address the strong-field problem, we extend the Monte Carlo wave function framework to include the partial wave structure of the three-dimensional system. The average heating rate due to radiative collisions is calculated with two different simulation schemes which are described in detail. We show that the results of the two methods agree and give estimates for the radiative collision heating rate for $^{24}$Mg atoms in a magneto-optical trap based on the $^1$S$_0$-$^1$P$_1$ atomic laser cooling transition., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures

In the past, light-assisted cold collisions between laser cooled atoms have been widely studied in magneto-optical atom traps (MOTs). We describe here theoretical studies of dynamical interactions, specifically cold collisions, between atoms trapped in near-resonant, dissipative optical lattices. The developed quantum-mechanical model is based on Monte Carlo wave-function simulations and combines atomic cooling and collision dynamics in a single framework. It turns out, that the radiative heating mechanism affects the dynamics of atomic cloud in a red-detuned lattice in a way that is not directly expected from the MOT studies. The optical lattice and position dependent light-matter coupling introduces selectivity of collision partners. Atoms, which are most mobile and energetic, are strongly favored to participate in collisions, and are more often ejected from the lattice, than the slow ones in the laser parameter region selected for study. For blue-detuned lattices, we study how optical shielding emerges as a natural part of the lattice and look for ways to optimize the effect. The simulations are computationally very demanding and would obviously benefit from the simplification schemes. We present some steps to this direction by showing how it is possible to calculate collision rates in near-resonant lattices in a fairly simple way., Comment: Tutorial/review. 30 pages (preprint), 17 figures. V2: Minor changes according to the referees' suggestions. Discussion on Sisyphus cooling shortened

We report Monte Carlo wave function simulation results on cold collisions between magnesium atoms in a strong red-detuned laser field. This is the normal situation e.g. in magneto-optical traps (MOT). The Doppler limit heating rate due to radiative collisions is calculated for Mg-24 atoms in a magneto-optical trap based on the singlet S_0 - singlet P_1 atomic laser cooling transition. We find that radiative heating does not seem to affect the Doppler limit in this case. We also describe a channelling mechanism due to the missing Q branch in the excitation scheme, which could lead to a suppression of inelastic collisions, and find that this mechanism is not present in our simulation results due to the multistate character of the excitation process., Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX 4; v2 contains minor revisions based on referee comments (5 pages)

We investigate the structure of topological defects in the ground states of spinor Bose-Einstein condensates with spin F=1 or F=2. The type and number of defects are determined by calculating the first and second homotopy groups of the order-parameter space. The order-parameter space is identified with a set of degenerate ground state spinors. Because the structure of the ground state depends on whether or not there is an external magnetic field applied to the system, defects are sensitive to the magnetic field. We study both cases and find that the defects in zero and non-zero field are different., Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. Published version

We study the ground state of the rotating spinor condensate and show that for slow rotation the ground state of the ferromagnetic spinor condensate is a coreless vortex. While coreless vortex is not topologically stable, we show that there is an energetic threshold for the creation of a coreless vortex. This threshold corresponds to a critical rotation frequency that vanishes as the system size increases. Also, we demonstrate the dramatically different behavior of the spinor condensate with anti-ferromagnetic interactions. For anti-ferromagnetic spinor condensate the angular momentum as a function of rotation frequency exhibits the familiar staircase behavior, but in contrast to an ordinary condensate the first step is to the state with angular momentum 1/2 per particle., Comment: v2: Numerical parameters for trapping frequency in z-direction and for the particle number changed. Two new citations added ([13] and [22]). More discussion in chapter III A. added. A new Figure 4 added, former figure 4 changed to Figure 5

We report Monte Carlo wave function simulation results for two colliding atoms in a blue-detuned near-resonant $J=1\to J=1$ optical lattice. Our results show that complete optical shielding of collisions can be achieved within the lattice with suitably selected and realistic laser field parameters. More importantly, our results demonstrate that the shielding effect does not interfere with the actual trapping and cooling process, and it is produced by the lattice lasers themselves, without the need to use additional laser beams., Comment: 9 pages including 6 figures

We simulate collisions between two atoms, which move in an optical lattice under the dipole-dipole interaction. The model describes simultaneously the two basic dynamical processes, namely the Sisyphus cooling of single atoms, and the light-induced inelastic collisions between them. We consider the J=1/2 -> J=3/2 laser cooling transition for Cs, Rb and Na. We find that the hotter atoms in a thermal sample are selectively lost or heated by the collisions, which modifies the steady state distribution of atomic velocities, reminiscent of the evaporative cooling process., Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures

Narrow s-wave features with subthermal widths are predicted for the ^1Pi_g photoassociation spectra of cold alkaline earth atoms. The phenomenon is explained by numerical and analytical calculations. These show that only a small subthermal range of collision energies near threshold contributes to the s-wave features that are excited when the atoms are very far apart. The resonances survive thermal averaging, and may be detectable for Ca cooled near the Doppler cooling temperature of the 4^1P <- 4^1S laser cooling transition., Comment: 5 pages, RevTex, 4 eps figures embedded

We propose a method to create a monopole structure in a spin-1 spinor condensate by applying the basic methods used to create vortices and solitons experimentally in single-component condensates. We show, however, that by using a two-component structure for a monopole, we can simplify our proposed experimental approach and apply it also to ferromagnetic spinor condensates. We also discuss the observation and dynamics of such a monopole structure, and note that the dynamics of the two-component monopole differs from the dynamics of the three-component monopole., Comment: The focus of the paper is shifted towards creation and observation of monopoles

The ground state solutions of a dilute Bose condensate with contact and magnetic dipole-dipole interactions are examined. By lowering the value of the scattering length, Goral et al. [cond-mat/9907308 and Phys. Rev. A {\bf 61}, 051601 (2000)] numerically predict a region of unstable solutions, accompanied by a neighborhood where the ground-state wave functions have internal structure. On the contrary, we find that the dipolar condensate has an intuitively-located stability region, and ground-state solutions near the instability threshold which are absent any unusual structure., Comment: 2 pages,1 figure

We calculate the collective excitations in a homogeneous F=2 spinor condensate in the absence of the magnetic field and also in a strong magnetic field. Almost all the excitations for a zero magnetic field are found to have either the Bogoliubov form or the free-particle form. We relate our results for a strong magnetic field to the concept of fragmented condensates and note that some observable quantities such as the speed of sound for the cyclic state depend on the relative phase between the spinor amplitudes for the $M=\pm 2, 0$ atoms., Comment: 6 pages 2 figures

We calculate the light-induced collisional loss of laser-cooled and trapped magnesium atoms for detunings up to 50 atomic linewidths to the red of the ^1S_0-^1P_1 cooling transition. We evaluate loss rate coefficients due to both radiative and nonradiative state-changing mechanisms for temperatures at and below the Doppler cooling temperature. We solve the Schrodinger equation with a complex potential to represent spontaneous decay, but also give analytic models for various limits. Vibrational structure due to molecular photoassociation is present in the trap loss spectrum. Relatively broad structure due to absorption to the Mg_2 ^1Sigma_u state occurs for detunings larger than about 10 atomic linewidths. Much sharper structure, especially evident at low temperature, occurs even at smaller detunings due to of Mg_2 ^1Pi_g absorption, which is weakly allowed due to relativistic retardation corrections to the forbidden dipole transition strength. We also perform model studies for the other alkaline earth species Ca, Sr, and Ba and for Yb, and find similar qualitative behavior as for Mg., Comment: 20 pages, RevTex, 13 eps figures embedded

We have simulated binary collisions between atoms in optical lattices during Sisyphus cooling. Our Monte Carlo Wave Function simulations show that the collisions selectively accelerate mainly the hotter atoms in the thermal ensemble, and thus affect the steady state which one would normally expect to reach in Sisyphus cooling without collisions., Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure

We propose a method for generating and controlling a spatially separated vortex--antivortex pair in a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a toroidal potential. Our simulations of the time dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation show that in toroidal condensates vortex dynamics are different from the dynamics in the homogeneous case. Our numerical results agree well with analytical calculations using the image method. Our proposal offers an effective example of coherent generation and control of vortex dynamics in atomic condensates., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures

We propose a method for achieving highly efficient transfer between the vibrational states in a diatomic molecule. The process is mediated by strong laser pulses and can be understood in terms of light-induced potentials. In addition to describing a specific molecular system, our results show how, in general, one can manipulate the populations of the different quantum states in double well systems., Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 5 eps figures embedded

We investigate how the nonlinearity of the Zeeman shift for strong magnetic fields affects the dynamics of rf field induced evaporative cooling in magnetic traps. We demonstrate for the 87-Rb and 23-Na F=2 trapping states with wave packet simulations how the cooling stops when the rf field frequency goes below a certain limit (for the 85-Rb F=2 trapping state the problem does not appear). We examine the applicability of semiclassical models for the strong field case as an extension of our previous work [Phys. Rev. A 58, 3983 (1998)]. Our results verify many of the aspects observed in a recent $^{87}$Rb experiment [Phys. Rev. A 60, R1759 (1999)]., Comment: 9 pages, RevTex, eps figures embedded

We investigate the validity of the Landau-Zener model in describing the output coupling of Bose condensates from magnetic traps by a chirped radiofrequency field. The predictions of the model are compared with the numerical solutions of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We find a dependence on the chirp direction, and also quantify the role of gravitation., Comment: 4 pages, Latex

We discuss a simple scheme for preparing atoms and molecules in an arbitrary preselected coherent superposition of quantum states. The technique, which we call fractional stimulated Raman adiabatic passage ({\it f-STIRAP}), is based upon (incomplete) adiabatic population transfer between an initial state $\psi_1$ and state $\psi_3$ through an intermediate state $\psi_2$. As in STIRAP, the Stokes pulse arrives before the pump pulse, but unlike STIRAP, the two pulses terminate simultaneously while maintaining a constant ratio of amplitudes. The independence of f-STIRAP from details of pulse shape and pulse area makes it the analog of conventional STIRAP in the creation of coherent superpositions of states. We suggest a smooth realization of f-STIRAP which requires only two laser pulses (which can be derived from a single laser) and at the same time ensures the automatic fulfillment of the asymptotic conditions at early and late times. Furthermore, we provide simple analytic estimates of the robustness of f-STIRAP against variations in the pulse intensity, the pulse delay, and the intermediate-state detuning, and discuss its possible extension to multistate systems., Comment: 8 pages, two-column revtex style, 4 figures; paper copies with better quality figures available upon request from the authors

We examine the effect of nonlinearity at a level crossing on the probability for nonadiabatic transitions $P$. By using the Dykhne-Davis-Pechukas formula, we derive simple analytic estimates for $P$ for two types of nonlinear crossings. In the first type, the nonlinearity in the detuning appears as a {\it perturbative} correction to the dominant linear time dependence. Then appreciable deviations from the Landau-Zener probability $P_{LZ}$ are found to appear for large couplings only, when $P$ is very small; this explains why the Landau-Zener model is often seen to provide more accurate results than expected. In the second type of nonlinearity, called {\it essential} nonlinearity, the detuning is proportional to an odd power of time. Then the nonadiabatic probability $P$ is qualitatively and quantitatively different from $P_{LZ}$ because on the one hand, it vanishes in an oscillatory manner as the coupling increases, and on the other, it is much larger than $P_{LZ}$. We suggest an experimental situation when this deviation can be observed., Comment: 9 pages final postscript file, two-column revtex style, 5 figures

In this paper we investigate the possibility to make complete Bell measurements on a product Hilbert space of two two-level bosonic systems. We restrict our tools to linear elements, like beam splitters and phase shifters, delay lines and electronically switched linear elements, photo-detectors, and auxiliary bosons. As a result we show that with these tools a never failing Bell measurement is impossible., Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Final version to appear in Phys.Rev. A

Magnetically trapped neutral atoms can be cooled with the evaporation technique. This is typically done by using a radiofrequency (rf) field that adiabatically couples trapped and untrapped internal atomic states for atoms with kinetic energies above a value set by the field frequency. The rf-field can also induce nonadiabatic changes of internal atomic spin states (F,M) that lead to heating and enhanced loss of atoms. In this paper we use wave packet simulations to show that the evaporation process can induce these nonadiabatic transitions which change the internal spin state of doubly spin-polarized (2,2) trapped atoms. We also verify the validity of a multistate Landau-Zener model in describing the nonadiabatic dynamics. In addition, we calculate exchange relaxation rate coefficients for collisions between atoms in the (2,M) states of 23-Na atoms. Large exchange relaxation coefficients for 23-Na as compared to 87-Rb F=2 suggest that evaporative cooling of (2,2) Na will be more difficult than for the corresponding state of Rb., Comment: 13 pages, RevTex, 5 embedded eps figures

We summarize the theoretical description of wave packets on molecular energy levels. We review the various quantum mechanical effects which can be studied and the models that can be verified on this system. This justifies our claim that the wave packet constitutes a universal quantum object., Comment: 8 pages, Latex+adacta.sty, 6 Postscript figures embedded using psfig

We present the APLIP process (Adiabatic Passage by Light Induced Potentials) for the adiabatic transfer of a wave packet from one molecular potential to the displaced ground vibrational state of another. The process uses an intermediate state, which is only slightly populated, and a counterintuitive sequence of light pulses to couple the three molecular states. APLIP shares many features with STIRAP (stimulated Raman adiabatic passage), such as high efficiency and insensitivity to pulse parameters. However, in APLIP there is no two-photon resonance, and the main mechanism for the transport of the wave packet is a light-induced potential. The APLIP process appears to violate the Franck-Condon principle, because of the displacement of the wave packet, but does in fact take place on timescales which are at least a little longer than a vibrational timescale., Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 4 eps/ps figures embedded using psfig, see also http://www.physics.helsinki.fi/~kasuomin/