Momentum and mass entanglement with ultracold metastable helium atoms
Speaker: Dr Sean Hodgman
Affiliation: The Australian National University
Abstract
Nonlocal entanglement between pair-correlated particles is a highly counter-intuitive aspect of quantum mechanics. While the rigorous Bell’s inequality framework has enabled the demonstration of such entanglement in photons and atomic internal states, no experiment has yet involved motional states of massive particles. Here we report the experimental observation of nonlocal correlations in motional states of momentum-entangled ultracold helium atoms, with entanglement generated via s-wave collisions. Using a Rarity-Tapster interferometer and a Bell-test framework, we observe atom-atom correlations sufficient to exclude a range of local hidden variable theories. This system could be extended to an entangled state of different mass atoms generated between 3He* and 4He* collisions, and potentially open new avenues for studying gravitational effects in quantum states.
About Physics colloquium
The Physics Colloquium series hosts a range of speakers from Australia and abroad. The series explores a variety of topics and everyone is welcome to come along. The seminars are open so there is no need to register your attendance.
If you would like to sign up for colloquium announcement emails, you can join the mailing list by sending a blank email to:
- For UQ email addresses: physics-colloquium-others-join@lists.science.uq.edu.au
- For non-UQ email addresses: physics-announce-external-join@lists.science.uq.edu.au
(Note: if you receive physics-all emails, you should already receive these and don't need to sign up again).
Venue
Room: 358
