QSimFP FVD Seminar: Generation of entangled phonon modes in a modulated Bose-Einstein condensate

Abstract:Recent years have seen many attempts to realize various gravitational or cosmological analogs in Bose-Einstein condensates. These condensates are difficult to work with, but they have the important feature of being so cold that vacuum fluctuations can be comparable to or even stronger than thermal fluctuations so that the excitations of the fluid must be described in the context of quantum field theory. Thus, we can hope to observe quantum features when realizing such analogs. I will discuss recent experiments in which we have observed quantum features in an analog of the dynamical Casimir effect. I will also discuss the connections between our analog system and the preheating and reheating scenarios that have been posited for the primordial universe.

Short bio: After receiving a PhD from the University of Michigan, Chris Westbrook spent 5 years working on laser cooling at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Maryland. He then took a position as an employee of the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique working at the Laboratoire Charles Fabry de l'Institut d'Optique. His research interests are centered on quantum gases and atom optics.