Macroscopic superposition states in rotating ring lattices

Abstract

We investigate the effects of rotation on one-dimensional ultracold bosons confined to optical ring lattices. First, we show that there exists a critical rotation frequency at which the ground state of a weakly-interacting and integer-filled atomic gas is fragmented into a macroscopic superposition state with different circulation. Second, we point out several advantages of using slightly non-uniform ring lattices. Finally, we demonstrate that different quasi-momentum states can be distinguished in time-of-flight absorption imaging and propose to probe correlations via the many-body oscillations induced by a sudden change in the rotation frequency.

8 pages, 4 figures; PQE-2008 conference proceedings; minor corrections

References in corpus (5)

• Optical ferris wheel for ultracold atoms
• Topological Winding and Unwinding in Metastable Bose-Einstein Condensates
• Generation of macroscopic superposition states in ring superlattices
• Creation of macroscopic superposition states from arrays of Bose-Einstein condensates
• Quasi-angular momentum of Bose and Fermi gases in rotating optical lattices