This research will investigate many-body spinor atomic Bose-Einstein condensates beyond the mean field limit. Our focus is on generating and studying quantum-correlated spin states including squeezed and entangled states, as well as exploring the application of these states to quantum-enhanced metrology of magnetic fields. This research builds upon our recent observation of spin-nematic squeezed states created in a spin-1 condensate quenched through a quantum phase transition. Additionally, we will investigate non-equilibrium quantum spin dynamics that will explore the fascinating intersection of metastability, correlations and entanglement in a quasi-isolated quantum spin system.
These studies provide insight into fundamental principles of many-particle quantum mechanics that are important to many areas of physics. Squeezed and entangled states have a wide range of applications in quantum metrology, foundational studies of quantum mechanics, and quantum information and quantum simulations. This work utilizes and develops many of the techniques of ultra-cold atomic physics. Ultra-cold atoms and molecules have become important tools in studies of low-energy collisions, quantum degenerate gases (including Bose-Einstein condensates and degenerate Fermi gases) and precision measurements of fundamental constants and symmetries. Technological applications of these systems include precision sensors for navigation and magnetometry, atomic clocks and emerging quantum technologies including quantum information and communication. Ultra-cold atoms also provide new tools to investigate important problems in condensed matter physics including exotic magnetic order thought to arise in a wide variety of frustrated magnetic materials and unconventional superconductors.
