Orzel C, Tuchman A K, Fenselau M L, Yasuda M, Kasevich M A
Physics Department, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
Science. 2001 Mar 23;291(5512):2386-9. doi: 10.1126/science.1058149.
We report manipulation of the atom number statistics associated with Bose-Einstein condensed atoms confined in an array of weakly linked mesoscopic traps. We used the interference of atoms released from the traps as a sensitive probe of these statistics. By controlling relative strengths of the tunneling rate between traps and atom-atom interactions within each trap, we observed trap states characterized by sub-Poissonian number fluctuations and adiabatic transitions between these number-squeezed states and coherent states of the atom field. The quantum states produced in this work may enable substantial gains in sensitivity for atom interference-based instruments as well as fundamental studies of quantum phase transitions.
我们报告了对与限制在弱连接介观阱阵列中的玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚原子相关的原子数统计的操控。我们将从阱中释放的原子的干涉用作这些统计的灵敏探针。通过控制阱之间隧穿率与每个阱内原子-原子相互作用的相对强度，我们观察到了以亚泊松数涨落为特征的阱态，以及这些数压缩态与原子场的相干态之间的绝热转变。这项工作中产生的量子态可能会使基于原子干涉的仪器的灵敏度大幅提高，以及对量子相变进行基础研究。
