Matterwave Transport Without Transit

TL;DR

This paper predicts a quantum phenomenon where a Bose-Einstein condensate can be transported between two wells without occupying the intermediate well, demonstrating a counterintuitive form of quantum transport.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical model for adiabatic transport of a BEC without transit through the intermediate state, a novel quantum transport mechanism.

Findings

Predicted adiabatic transport of 2000 Li atoms over 20 microns

Transport occurs without significant occupation of the intermediate well

Process occurs over approximately one second

Abstract

Classically it is impossible to have transport without transit, i.e., if the points one, two and three lie sequentially along a path then an object moving from one to three must, at some point in time, be located at two. However, for a quantum particle in a three-well system it is possible to transport the particle between wells one and three such that the probability of finding it at any time in the classically accessible state in well two is negligible. We consider theoretically the analogous scenario for a Bose-Einstein condensate confined within a three well system. In particular, we predict the adiabatic transportation of an interacting Bose-Einstein condensate of 2000 Li atoms from well one to well three without transiting the allowed intermediate region. To an observer of this macroscopic quantum effect it would appear that, over a timescale of the order of one second, the condensate had transported, but not transited, a macroscopic distance of 20 microns between wells one and three.