Abstract
We investigate the creation of a relative phase between two Bose-Einstein condensates, initially in number states, by detection of atoms and show how the system approaches a coherent state. Two very distinct time scales are found: one for the creation of the interference is of the order of the detection time for a few single atoms and another, for the preparation of coherent states, is of the order of the detection time for a significant fraction of the total number of atoms. Approximate analytic solutions are derived and compared with exact numerical results.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 3421-3436 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics |
| Volume | 32 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1999 |
Keywords
- Bose-Einstein condensates
- atoms
- optics
- atomic physics