Squeezing Two Mean Field Modes of a Bose–Einstein Condensate

Abstract

Bose–Einstein condensation has been predicted in 1924/1925 by Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein. The Nobel prize 2001 was awarded to Eric A. Cornell, Wolfgang Ketterle and Carl E. Wieman for the first experimental observation of Bose–Einstein condensation in dilute gases of laser cooled alkali atoms in 1995. Almost 15 years later a whole new sub field of atomic physics developed dealing with Bose–Einstein condensates and degenerate Fermi gases. A lot of effort has been made, both experimentally and theoretically, to explore the basic physics of ultracold quantum degenerate gases. Extraordinary experimental control over the trapped quantum gases and the possibility to measure and adjust almost all relevant parameters directly (e.g. interaction strength, relative phases, ...) opens up a new route in atomic physics. The quantum gases can be used to engineer specific Hamiltonians that map for example to problems in solid state physics where some measurements are hard to perform and many parameters are not controllable. Ultracold quantum gases are promising candidates for quantum simulators of solid state systems. In the field of quantum metrology degenerate gases have been proposed to be one experimental system that allows for a precision beyond the “classical” projection noise limit in atom interferometry. Controllable many-body entanglement can be used as a resource to beat the standard quantum limit.