Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen correlations via dissociation of a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to test local realism using EPR correlations in atomic quadratures, generated through the dissociation of a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate into entangled atomic beams.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to produce strongly entangled atomic beams exhibiting EPR correlations via molecular BEC dissociation.

Findings

Atomic quadrature correlations can be measured with high precision.

Dissociation of molecular BECs can generate EPR-entangled atomic beams.

Potential for testing local realism with massive particles.

Abstract

Recent experimental measurements of atomic intensity correlations through atom shot noise suggest that atomic quadrature phase correlations may soon be measured with a similar precision. We propose a test of local realism with mesoscopic numbers of massive particles based on such measurements. Using dissociation of a Bose-Einstein condensate of diatomic molecules into bosonic atoms, we demonstrate that strongly entangled atomic beams may be produced which possess Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) correlations in field quadratures, in direct analogy to the position and momentum correlations originally considered by EPR.