Abstract
Cold atoms hold much promise for the realization of quantum technologies, but still encounter many challenges. In this work we show how the fundamental Casimir-Polder force, by which atoms are attracted to a surface, may be temporarily suppressed by utilizing a specially designed quantum potential, which is familiar from the hydrodynamic or Bohmian reformulations of quantum mechanics. We show that when harnessing the quantum potential via suitable atomic wave-packet engineering, the absorption by the surface can be dramatically reduced. As a result, the probing time of the atoms as sensors can increase. This is proven both analytically and numerically. Furthermore, an experimental scheme is proposed for achieving the required shape for the atomic wave packet. All these may assist existing applications of cold atoms in metrology and sensing and may also enable prospective ones. Finally, these results shed light on the notion of quantum potential and its significance.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 013150 |
| Journal | Physical Review Research |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Jan 2023 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2023 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.
Funding
The authors wish to thank numerous colleagues for helpful discussions, and in particular, Eli Pollak, Daniel Rohrlich, Shim'on Sukholuski, and Yaara Shaked for their helpful comments and support. This work was funded in part by the Israel Science Foundation (Grants No. 856/18 and No. 1314/19), the DFG through the DIP program (Grant No. 703/2-1), the Israel Innovation Authority (Grants No. 70002 and No. 73795), Elta Systems Ltd., the Israeli Council for Higher Education, the Pazy Foundation, and the Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology. This research was supported by Grant No. FQXi-RFP-CPW-2006 from the Foundational Questions Institute and the Fetzer Franklin Fund, a donor-advised fund of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Elta Systems Ltd. | |
| Fetzer Franklin Fund | |
| Israel Innovation Authority | 70002, 73795 |
| Silicon Valley Community Foundation | |
| Foundational Questions Institute | |
| Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft | 703/2-1 |
| Israel Science Foundation | 1314/19, 856/18 |
| Council for Higher Education | |
| Ministry of science and technology, Israel | FQXi-RFP-CPW-2006 |
| PAZY Foundation |