Speaker
Mr
Prasanna Venkatesh
(McMaster University)
Description
Quantum particles in a periodic potential subject to an
additional linear force undergo Bloch oscillation at a
frequency that is directly proportional to the magnitude
of the applied force. In this talk I will describe a novel in-
situ, non-destructive method to measure the Bloch
frequency for a cloud of cold atoms that are confined
within the electromagnetic field of a high quality
standing wave cavity. The idea is to use the classical
back-action of the atoms on the intra-cavity light field
that contains signatures of the atomic dynamics (the
Bloch frequency) and measure the amplitude and/or
phase of the transmitted light field. As with any cavity
based continuous measurement scheme we also need
to consider the effects of quantum measurement back-
action on this proposal. We do this by considering the
dynamics of quantised linearised fluctuations about the
dynamical classical atomic and light fields.
Primary author
Mr
Prasanna Venkatesh
(McMaster University)
