Abstract
We review the quantum transport of ultra-cold alkali atoms trapped in a one-dimensional optical lattice of double-potential wells, engineered through a combination of ac-Stark shifts and Zeeman interactions. The system is modelled numerically through analysis of the bandstructure and integration of the time-dependent Schr¨ odinger equation. By these means we simulate coherent control of the atomic wavepackets. We present results from ongoing experiments on laser-cooled caesium, including the demonstration of quantum state preparation and preliminary evidence for coherent tunnelling. Entanglement between the internal and motional degrees of freedom allows us to access the tunnelling dynamics by Stern-Gerlach measurements of the ground state magnetic populations. A scheme to extend this into a full reconstruction of the density matrix for the ground state angular momentum is presented. We further consider the classical dynamics of our system, which displays deterministic chaos. This has important implications for the distinction between classical and quantum mechanical transport.
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