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Z. Dutton

Publications and source records attributed to Z. Dutton.

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Engineering vortex rings and systems for controlled studies of vortex interactions in Bose-Einstein condensates

We study controlled methods of preparing vortex configurations in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates and their use in the studies of fundamental vortex scattering, reconnection processes and superfluid sound emission. We explore techniques of imprinting closed vortex rings by means of coherently driving internal atomic transitions with electromagnetic fields which exhibit singular phase profiles. In particular, we show that a vortex ring can be prepared in a controlled way by two focused co-propagating Gaussian laser beams. More complex vortex systems may also be imprinted by directly superposing simpler field configurations or by programming their phase profiles on optical holograms. This provides the controlled method of studying vortex reconnections in atomic superfluids. We analyze specific examples of two merging vortex rings in a trapped two-component Rb-87 condensate. We calculate the radiated sound energy in the vortex ring reconnection process and show that the vortex relaxation and the re-distribution of sound energy can be controlled by the imprinting process. The energy is first concentrated towards the trap center and later emitted outwards as sound and transformed to surface excitations. As another such technique, we study creating pairs of 2D point vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates using a 'light roadblock' in ultra-slow light propagation. We show how this can be used to study vortex collisions in compressible superfluids and how these collisions result in energy dissipation via phonons and, sometimes, annihilation of vortex pairs.

cond-mat.other

Storing and processing optical information with ultra-slow light in Bose-Einstein condensates

We theoretically explore coherent information transfer between ultra-slow light pulses and Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) and find that storing light pulses in BECs, by switching off the coupling field, allows the coherent condensate dynamics to process optical information. We develop a formalism, applicable in both the weak and strong probe regimes, to analyze such experiments and establish several new results. Investigating examples relevant to Rb-87 experimental parameters we see a variety of novel two-component BEC dynamics occur during the storage, including interference fringes, gentle breathing excitations, and two-component solitons. We find the dynamics when the levels |F=1, M_F=-1> and |F=2, M_F=+1> are well suited to designing controlled processing of the information. By switching the coupling field back on, the processed information is rewritten onto probe pulses which then propagate out as slow light pulses. We calculate the fidelity of information transfer between the atomic and light fields upon the switch-on and subsequent output. The fidelity is affected both by absorption of small length scale features and absorption of regions of the pulse stored near the condensate edge. In the strong probe case, we find that when the oscillator strengths for the two transitions are equal the fidelity is not strongly sensitive to the probe strength, while when they are unequal the fidelity is worse for stronger probes. Applications to distant communication between BECs, squeezed light generation and quantum information are anticipated.

quant-ph

Probing Decoherence with Electromagnetically Induced Transparency in Superconductive Quantum Circuits

Superconductive quantum circuits (SQCs) comprise quantized energy levels that may be coupled via microwave electromagnetic fields. Described in this way, one may draw a close analogy to atoms with internal (electronic) levels coupled by laser light fields. In this Letter, we present a superconductive analog to electromagnetically induced transparency (S-EIT) that utilizes SQC designs of present day experimental consideration. We discuss how S-EIT can be used to establish macroscopic coherence in such systems and, thereby, utilized as a sensitive probe of decoherence.

cond-mat.supr-con