Spin- and Momentum-Correlated Atom Pairs via Photon Exchange and Vacuum Fluctuations

Abstract

Mechanisms generating correlated pairs of particles are at the core of diverse fields of physics such as Hawking radiation, phonon-mediated superconductivity or spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Similar approaches have been explored with ultracold atoms to correlate massive particles in various degrees of freedom. We use a Bose-Einstein condensate coupled to a high-finesse optical cavity to generate photon-mediated atom pairs in tens of microseconds that are simultaneously correlated in their spin and momentum. Our mechanism is, much like spontaneous parametric downconversion, dominated by vacuum fluctuations. In this talk, I will present our latest results on the emerging twin-atom beams and give an outlook on the exciting prospects for loophole-free Bell tests, fast entanglement generation in spatially separated atomic clouds, and quantum simulation of photon-induced Cooper pairs.

References

• https://arxiv.org/pdf/2303.11326.pdf