2007/04/30 by A. Perrin, Hong Chang, H. Chang +7 · 4 citations
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Atom (system on chip) #Atomic physics #Bose–Einstein condensate #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Degenerate energy levels #Matter wave #Mixing (physics) #Physics #Quantum #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum correlation #Quantum discord #Quantum entanglement #Quantum mechanics #Quantum optics #Quantum optics and atomic interactions #Scattering #cond-mat.other #quant-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.99.150405
published as Physical Review Letters 99, 15 (2007) 150405 · A few typos have been corrected
openalex publication_date 2007/10/12 · arxiv created 2008/05/12 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We study atom scattering from two colliding Bose-Einstein condensates using a position sensitive, time resolved, single atom detector. In analogy to quantum optics, the process can also be thought of as spontaneous, degenerate four-wave mixing of de Broglie waves. We find a clear correlation between atoms with opposite momenta, demonstrating pair production in the scattering process. We also observe a Hanbury Brown-Twiss correlation for collinear momenta, which permits an independent measurement of the size of the pair production source and thus the size of the spatial mode. The back-to-back pairs occupy very nearly two oppositely directed spatial modes, a promising feature for future quantum optics experiments.