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On generating macroscopic superpositions via nonlinear dynamics of stopped light in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate

Collin Trail, University of Calgary

(Session 9c : Friday from 5:30pm - 6:00pm)

We investigate a method for generating nonlinear phase shifts on superpositions of photon number states. The light is stored in a Bose-Einstein condensate via electromagnetically-induced transparency memory techniques. The atomic collisions are exploited to generate a nonlinear evolution for the stored state. The stored light is then revived with the nonlinear phase shift imprinted upon it. For the special case of a coherent state input we find that this method can be used to generate an optical cat state. We investigate the validity of using the Thomas-Fermi and mean-field approximations.