2003/07/18 by Khan W. Mahmud, K. W. Mahmud, Heidi Perry +3
Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #cond-mat
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0953-4075/36/17/102
published as J. Phys. B. 36, L265-L272 (2003) · 11 pages, 5 figures, Submitted to J. Phys. B (letter to the editor)
arxiv created 2003/07/18 · openalex publication_date 2003/08/13 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
We propose a model for the creation of entangled number states (Schrödinger cat states) of a Bose–Einstein condensate in a double well through simple phase engineering. We show that a π-phase imprinted condensate in a double well evolves, with a simultaneous change of barrier height, to number states with well defined and controlled entanglement. The cat state generation is understood in terms of the underlying classical phase space dynamics of a π-phase displaced coherent state put at the hyperbolic fixed point of the separatrix of a physical pendulum. The extremity and sharpness of the final cat state is determined by the initial barrier height and the rate at which it is ramped during the evolution.