Entanglement and Non locality in Macroscopic and Massive Systems

Dr Margaret Reid

Centre for Atom Optics and Ultrafast Spectroscopy,Swinburne University of Technology

3:30 pm Friday, 9 July 2010,
EN101 (EN Building), Hawthorn.

Entangled states were introduced by Einstein, who showed they cause mysterious non local effects and correlations. Applications include cryptography, quantum teleportation and measurements better than the standard quantum limit, as experimentally demonstrated in atomic clocks and interferometers. We develop a hierarchy of three increasingly powerful types of non locality: entanglement, Einstein's paradox or "steering", and Bell's theorem, and discuss the experimental status of each. Schrödinger's proposal of the "Schrödinger cat", a quantum entangled, massive macroscopic system, remains an outstanding challenge.

As well as providing possibilities for enhanced sensitivity of measurements, entangled multiparticle states are thus of fundamental significance. We present our recent findings on how to generate and detect macroscopic entanglement and non locality in ultracold atomic Bose Einstein condensates, and relate it to experimental developments both at SUT and at Heidelberg University.

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