Condensate formation in a dark state of a driven atom-cavity system

21 April 2023

Photo: AG Hemmerich

In a research work recently published in Physical Review Letters, we show that the dark state concept, originally developed in quantum optics, provides a general approach to efficiently prepare complex many-body states in an open quantum system. We use an experimental platform consisting of an ultracold quantum gas in a high-finesse cavity, transversely pumped by a phase-modulated laser, to demonstrate the formation of a condensate in a dark superposition of momentum states, which decouples from the intra-cavity light field.

Condensate Formation in a Dark State of a Driven Atom-Cavity System
Jim Skulte, Phatthamon Kongkhambut, Sahana Rao, Ludwig Mathey, Hans Keßler, Andreas Hemmerich, and Jayson G. Cosme
Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 163603 (2023)