Effect of Inter-Well Interactions on Non-Linear Beam Splitters for Matter-Wave Interferometers

• Main Authors: Cosetta Baroni, Giacomo Gori, Maria Luisa Chiofalo, Andrea Trombettoni
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-04-01
• Series: Condensed Matter
• Subjects: strongly correlated fluids; ultracold quantum gases; atom interferometry; precision measurements
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2410-3896/5/2/31

We study the non-linear beam splitter in matter-wave interferometers using ultracold quantum gases in a double-well configuration in presence of non-local interactions inducing inter-well density-density coupling, as they can be realized, e.g., with dipolar gases. We explore this effect after considering different input states, in the form of either coherent, or Twin-Fock, or NOON states. We first review the non-interacting limit and the case in which only the local interaction is present, including the study of sensitivity near the self-trapping threshold. Then, we consider the two-mode model in the presence of inter-well interactions and consider the scaling of the sensitivity as a function of the non-local coupling strength. Our analysis clearly shows that non-local interactions can compensate the degradation of the sensitivity induced by local interactions, so that they may be used to restore optimal sensitivity.