Date/Time
Date(s) - 30/09/2015
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Title: Measurement Induced Localization of an ultracold lattice gas

Speaker: Mukund Vengalatorre

Institute: Cornell University

Location: ABB 102

Description:

The act of observation has profound consequences on a quantum system. I will discuss our recent experimental demonstration of a Heisenberg microscope based on nondestructive imaging of ultracold atoms. In this work, we show that the act of imaging these atoms induces their localization. In other words, we are able to freeze the quantum motion of these atoms due to continuous measurements of their position. This phenomenon, a manifestation of the Quantum Zeno effect, has no classical analog.

Further, by gradually increasing the rate at which the atoms are subjected to position measurements, we are able to observe the crossover from a regime of ‘weak measurements’ – where the act of observation has negligible effect on quantum motion, to the regime of ‘strong measurements’ – where measurements cause strong localization. This crossover is an instance of emergent classicality in a quantum system when it is subject to rapid measurements.