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Title: Numerical analysis of coherent many-body currents in a single atom transistor

Journal Article · · Physical Review. A
;  [1]; ;  [2]
  1. Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, A-6020 Innsbruck (Austria)
  2. Clarendon Laboratory, University of Oxford, Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PU (United Kingdom)

We study the dynamics of many atoms in the recently proposed single-atom-transistor setup [A. Micheli, A. J. Daley, D. Jaksch, and P. Zoller, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 140408 (2004)] using recently developed numerical methods. In this setup, a localized spin-1/2 impurity is used to switch the transport of atoms in a one-dimensional optical lattice: in one state the impurity is transparent to probe atoms, but in the other acts as a single-atom mirror. We calculate time-dependent currents for bosons passing the impurity atom, and find interesting many-body effects. These include substantially different transport properties for bosons in the strongly interacting (Tonks) regime when compared with fermions, and an unexpected decrease in the current when weakly interacting probe atoms are initially accelerated to a nonzero mean momentum. We also provide more insight into the application of our numerical methods to this system, and discuss open questions about the currents approached by the system on long time scales.

OSTI ID:
20718790
Journal Information:
Physical Review. A, Vol. 72, Issue 4; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.72.043618; (c) 2005 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1050-2947
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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