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Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 160403 (2001) [4 pages]

Superposition of Macroscopic Numbers of Atoms and Molecules

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John Calsamiglia1, Matt Mackie1,*, and Kalle-Antti Suominen1,2
1Helsinki Institute of Physics, PL 64, FIN-00014 Helsingin yliopisto, Finland
2Department of Applied Physics, University of Turku, FIN-20014 Turun yliopisto, Finland

Received 26 March 2001; published 28 September 2001

We theoretically examine photoassociation of a nonideal Bose-Einstein condensate, focusing on evidence for a macroscopic superposition of atoms and molecules. This problem raises an interest because, rather than two states of a given object, an atom-molecule system is a seemingly impossible macroscopic superposition of different objects. Nevertheless, photoassociation enables coherent intraparticle conversion, and we thereby propose a viable scheme for creating a superposition of a macroscopic number of atoms with a macroscopic number of molecules.

© 2001 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.160403
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.87.160403
PACS:
03.75.Fi, 03.65.Ta, 32.80.Wr

*To whom correspondence should be addressed. mackie@soul.helsinki.fi

 
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