2005/11/30 by Anatoli Polkovnikov, Ehud Altman, Eugene Demler · 169 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Biological system #Biology #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Computer science #Contrast (vision) #Correlation function (quantum field theory) #Generalization #Interference (communication) #Materials science #Mathematical analysis #Mathematics #Optics #Order (exchange) #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Range (aeronautics) #Scaling #Statistical physics #Strong Light-Matter Interactions #Telecommunications #cond-mat.stat-mech
paper · pdf · doi:10.1073/pnas.0510276103
published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103(16), 6125-6129 (National Academy of Sciences) · 7 pages, 3 figures, published version
openalex publication_date 2006/04/06 · arxiv created 2006/04/08 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We consider a problem of interference between two independent condensates that lack true long-range order. We show that their interference pattern contains information about correlation functions within each condensate. As an example, we analyze the interference between a pair of one-dimensional interacting Bose liquids. We find universal scaling of the average fringe contrast with system size and temperature that depends only on the Luttinger parameter. Moreover, the full distribution of the fringe contrast, which is also equivalent to the full counting statistics of the interfering atoms, changes with interaction strength and lends information on high-order correlation functions. We also demonstrate that the interference between two-dimensional condensates at finite temperature can be used as a direct probe of the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. Finally, we discuss the generalization of our results to describe the interference of a periodic array of independent fluctuating condensates.