Two-Particle Four-Mode Interferometer for Atoms.

We present a free-space interferometer to observe two-particle interference of a pair of atoms with entangled momenta. The source of atom pairs is a Bose-Einstein condensate subject to a dynamical instability, and the interferometer is realized using Bragg diffraction on optical lattices, in the spirit of our recent Hong-Ou-Mandel experiment. We report on an observation ruling out the possibility of a purely mixed state at the input of the interferometer.

Quantum Signature of Analog Hawking Radiation in Momentum Space.

We consider a sonic analog of a black hole realized in the one-dimensional flow of a Bose-Einstein condensate. Our theoretical analysis demonstrates that one- and two-body momentum distributions accessible by present-day experimental techniques provide clear direct evidence (i) of the occurrence of a sonic horizon, (ii) of the associated acoustic Hawking radiation, and (iii) of the quantum nature of the Hawking process. The signature of the quantum behavior persists even at temperatures larger than the chemical potential.

Atomic Hong-Ou-Mandel experiment.

Two-particle interference is a fundamental feature of quantum mechanics, and is even less intuitive than wave-particle duality for a single particle. In this duality, classical concepts--wave or particle--are still referred to, and interference happens in ordinary space-time. On the other hand, two-particle interference takes place in a mathematical space that has no classical counterpart.

Influence of gold coating and interplate voltage on the performance of chevron micro-channel plates for temporally and spatially resolved single particle detection.

We present a study of two different sets of Micro-Channel Plates used for time and space resolved single particle detection. We investigate the effects of the gold coating and that of introducing an interplate voltage between the spatially separated plates. We find that the gold coating increases the count rate of the detector and the pulse amplitude as previously reported for non-spatially resolved setups.

Acoustic analog to the dynamical Casimir effect in a Bose-Einstein condensate.

We have modulated the density of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate by changing the trap stiffness, thereby modulating the speed of sound. We observe the creation of correlated excitations with equal and opposite momenta, and show that for a well-defined modulation frequency, the frequency of the excitations is half that of the trap modulation frequency.