Fast control of interactions in an ultracold two atom system: Managing correlations and irreversibility

TL;DR

This paper develops a shortcut to adiabaticity for rapidly tuning interactions between two ultracold atoms, minimizing excitations and controlling entanglement, with implications for quantum control in ultracold systems.

Contribution

It introduces a novel STA protocol for changing inter-particle interactions in ultracold atoms, optimizing entanglement and thermodynamic properties.

Findings

Efficiently controls interaction strength with minimal irreversible work.

Achieves desired entanglement levels matching target states.

Demonstrates potential for rapid quantum state manipulation.

Abstract

We design and explore a shortcut to adiabaticity (STA) for changing the interaction strength between two ultracold, harmonically trapped bosons. Starting from initially uncorrelated, non-interacting particles, we assume a time-dependent tuning of the inter-particle interaction through a Feshbach resonance, such that the two particles are strongly interacting at the end of the driving. The efficiency of the STA is then quantified by examining the thermodynamic properties of the system, such as the irreversible work, which is related to the out-of-equilibrium excitations in the system. We also quantify the entanglement of the two-particle state through the von Neumann entropy and show that the entanglement produced in the STA process matches that of the desired target state. Given the fundamental nature of the two-atom problem in ultracold atomic physics, the presented shortcut can be expected to have significant impact on many processes that rely on inter-particle interactions.