Physics Letters A 314 (2003) 3743

www.elsevier.com/locate/pla
Engineering entanglement between external degrees
of freedom of atoms via Bragg scattering
Aeysha Khalique, Farhan Saif

Department of Electronics, Quaid-i-Azam University, 45320 Islamabad, Pakistan

Received 25 March 2003; received in revised form 19 May 2003; accepted 21 May 2003
Communicated by P.R. Holland
Abstract
We suggest a technique to engineer entangled states in the atomic external degrees of freedom by atomic Bragg scattering
from an optical lattice. We prepare two super-cooled two-level atoms in their ground state and in certain linear momentum states,
and study their interaction with a cavity eld which is in a superposition state. Bragg scattering of the atoms from an optical
lattice generates conditional evolution in the external degrees of freedom of the atoms. By controlling the atomic interaction
time with the optical eld and varying initial conditions, we generate complete set of EPR-Bell basis for two incident atoms
and GHZ states for more than two atoms.
2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
PACS: 03.65.-w; 42.50.Ct; 03.67.-a
1. Introduction
In 1935, Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen questioned the legitimacy of quantum mechanics by using entangled
states [1]. Their work started enormous philosophical discussions which led to improve the understanding of
the subject. The quantum entangled states have proved now to be a foundation stone in devising techniques to
perform quantum computation [2], quantum teleportation [3] and quantum cryptography [4]. It has made it vital to
understand the entanglement in quantum systems in detail.
The generation of entanglement has been performed successfully between two electromagnetic cavities [5],
multimode of a single electromagnetic cavity [6,7], internal states of atoms [8], ions [9] and BoseEinstein
condensates [10]. Moreover entanglement between angular momenta of a single atom [11] and between atoms in
dark states [12] has been suggested. In this Letter we present technique to develop entanglement between external
degrees of freedom of atoms which are dened by means of their linear momentum states. Our suggested scheme
relies on Bragg scattering [13] of the matter waves [1420] from an optical lattice [2123].
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: farhan@qau.edu.pk (F. Saif).
0375-9601/03/$ see front matter 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0375-9601(03)00879-X
38 A. Khalique, F. Saif / Physics Letters A 314 (2003) 3743
Fig. 1. Suggested experimental setup: in order to generate entangled states we send atoms with transversal linear momentum components P
+l
0
and/or P
l
0
along the cavity eld, which are very small compared to their longitudinal momentum components. Bragg scattering of the two
incident atoms from the cavity eld in superposition state of zero and one photon ensures that the scattered atoms undergo conditional evolution
with momentum component either P
+l
0
or P
l
0
which is controlled by their interaction times, thus, leading to EPR entangled states. For
number of atoms higher than two we engineer GHZ entangled states in the external degrees of freedom of atoms.
We discuss that Bragg scattering of two or more mutually non-interacting atoms from a cavity eld leads to
generate entanglement in their external degrees of freedom. The cavity contains optical eld in superposition state
of zero and one photon. The so generated entangled states between two atoms constitute maximally entangled
EPR-Bell basis which are obtained by putting a control over atom-eld interaction times. We extend our suggested
scheme to generate GHZ [24,25] entangled states between more than two atoms.
In Section 2 we present our experimental model. We discuss the Bragg scattering of atoms from an optical
crystal in Section 3. We devote Section 4 to the application of atomic Bragg scattering to engineer entangled states.
In Section 5 we discuss the main results of our Letter and an extension of our scheme to generate GHZ state. We
also discuss that same entangled states can be generated by taking the cavity eld in entangled state.
2. The model
Let us consider two super-cooled two-level atoms in their ground state interacting simultaneously with a
quantized standing wave cavity eld which is initially in the superposition state of zero and one photon.
1
We
show the model of our system in Fig. 1. The transition frequency of the two atoms is far detuned from the eld
frequency which ensures that atoms do not exit the cavity eld in excited state and there is no atomic relaxation
due to spontaneous emission. Thus interaction of the atoms does not alter the eld state. The atomic momentum
components along the cavity eld are much smaller than the momentum components normal to it, hence, we treat
the atomic motion normal to the cavity eld classically.
1
We obtain the superposition state of zero and one photon state of the cavity eld by means of a resonant two level atom. We prepare it
initially in the superposition of its ground and excited states, which can be obtained by passing the atom through a Ramsey eld. The cavity
eld is initially in the vacuum state. The atom interacts with the cavity eld for an interaction time required for half of a Rabi cycle. Later, we
measure the atom in its ground state. This ensures the superposition state of zero and one photon in the cavity.
A. Khalique, F. Saif / Physics Letters A 314 (2003) 3743 39
The interaction of the atoms with the cavity eld in dipole, rotating wave and secular approximations [26] leads
to the effective Hamiltonian, which reads
(1)

H
eff
=

P
2
x
1
2M
+

P
2
x
2
2M

h|g|
2
2

j=1,2
n
(j)

(j)
+
(cos 2k x
j
+1).
Here,

P
x
1
and

P
x
2
, are momentum operators for momentum components of the two atoms along the cavity eld.
The wave number k is dened as, k =2/. We label the two atoms by the summation index j and
(j)
+
and
(j)

are atomic raising and lowering operators for the jth atom. Here n describes eld operator. Moreover, M is the
mass of each atom, g is atom-eld coupling constant, and = which indicates detuning between the atomic
transition frequency, , and the eld frequency, .
We may write the wave function of the system in product state as
(2)

at,f
(t )
_
=
1

2(2m+1)
m

l=m
m

=m
_
C
(1)
0,

P
l
(t )C
(2)
0,

P
l

(t )

P
(1)
l
,

P
(2)
l

, 0
_
+C
(1)
1,

P
l
(t )C
(2)
1,

P
l

(t )

P
(1)
l
,

P
(2)
l

, 1
__
,
which represents the atoms-eld wave function at any interaction time, t . Here, m describes the total number of
the orders of deection. The probability amplitudes C
(1)
n,

P
l
(t ) and C
(2)
n,

P
l

(t ) describe the probability amplitude of the

atom 1 and atom 2 exiting with momentum

P
l
and

P
l
in the presence of the eld with n number of photons,
respectively.
3. Bragg scattering of atoms
Bragg scattering of atomic de Broglie waves [1421] occurs when the incident atom with initial transversal
momentumP
+l
0
=
+l
0
2

hk scatters froman optical crystal. Here, l
0
=2, 4, 6, . . . , which corresponds to rst, second,
and third order of Bragg scattering, respectively, and so on. During interaction of the atomwith the eld, momentum
transferred to the atom by the eld is either zero or 2

hk [16], for each complete Rabi cycle. Thus momentum of the

exiting atom is given as

P
l
=P
l
0
+l

hk, where, l is an even integer.

The time evolution of the two identical atoms during their interaction with the cavity eld is controlled by
Schrdinger equation, i

h

t
|
at,f
(t ) = H
eff
|
at,f
(t ), where, H
eff
and |
at,f
(t ) are dened in Eqs. (1) and (2),
respectively. Hence, we nd set of innite coupled rate equations for probability amplitudes C
(j)
n,

P
l
, for each jth
atom, which is
(3) i
C
(j)
n,

P
l
(t )
t
=
rec
l(l +l
0
)C
(j)
n,

P
l
(t )
n
2
_
C
(j)
n,

P
l
+2

hk
(t ) +C
(j)
n,

P
l
2

hk
(t )
_
.
Here,
rec
=

hk
2
2M
is recoil frequency of the atom and n =
|g|
2
n
2
is effective Rabi frequency. In Bragg regime, the
recoil frequency of a scattered atom is much larger than effective Rabi frequency, that is
rec
n [14,27]. For
the atom with initial momentum, P
+l
0
, the conservation of energy in Bragg regime leads to two values for l, that
is, l = 0 and l = l
0
, which indicate two possible propagation directions one with transversal momentum

P
0
=
+l
0
2

hk =P
+l
0
and the other with transversal momentum

P
l
0
=
l
0
2

hk =P
l
0
. For an atom with initial momentum
P
l
0
there occur two values for l, that is, l =0 and l =+l
0
, which correspond to two propagation directions with
momentumP
l
0
and P
+l
0
, respectively. Here l
0
is an even integer. The condition on l provides a set of l
0
/2 coupled
equations, from l =0 to l =l
0
, which we solve adiabatically to obtain two coupled equations [26] as
(4) i
C
(j)
n,P
+l
0
t
=A
n
C
(j)
n,P
+l
0
(t )
1
2
B
n
C
(j)
n,P
l
0
(t ),
40 A. Khalique, F. Saif / Physics Letters A 314 (2003) 3743
(5) i
C
(j)
n,P
l
0
t
=A
n
C
(j)
n,P
l
0
(t )
1
2
B
n
C
(j)
n,P
+l
0
(t ).
Here,
(6) A
n

(n/2)
2

rec
(l
0
2)(2)
, for l
0
=2,
0, for l
0
=2,
and
(7) |B
n
|
_
(n)
l
0
/2
(2
rec
)
l
0
/21
[(l
0
2)(l
0
4)...4.2]
2
, for l
0
=2,
n, for l
0
=2.
From Eqs. (4) and (5), we [26] obtain the probability amplitudes of the jth outgoing atom exiting with momentum
P
+l
0
and with momentum P
l
0
as
(8) C
(j)
n,P
l
0
(t ) =e
iA
n
t
_
C
(j)
n,P
l
0
(0) cos
_
1
2
B
n
t
_
+iC
(j)
n,P
l
0
(0) sin
_
1
2
B
n
t
__
.
Hence, as a result of Bragg scattering the probability of nding the exiting atom in either of the two propagation
directions ips as a function of interaction time, t , with frequency, |B
n
|/2.
4. Engineering entanglement between atomic external degrees of freedom
In order to generate entanglement between the atomic external degrees-of-freedom, we prepare atom 1 and
atom 2 in their linear momentum state |P
(1)
+l
0
and |P
(2)
l
0
, respectively. Hence initial conditions on atomic
probability amplitudes read as C
(1)
n,P
+l
0
(0) =C
(2)
n,P
l
0
(0) =1, and C
(1)
n,P
l
0
(0) =C
(2)
n,P
+l
0
(0) =0. On substituting these
values in Eq. (8), we get probability amplitudes for the two atoms at any time of interaction, t , as
(9) C
(1)
n,P
+l
0
(t ) =C
(2)
n,P
l
0
(t ) =e
iA
n
t
cos
_
1
2
B
n
t
_
,
(10) C
(1)
n,P
l
0
(t ) =C
(2)
n,P
+l
0
(t ) =ie
iA
n
t
sin
_
1
2
B
n
t
_
.
The combined state of the two scattered atoms and the cavity eld reads
(11)

at,f
(t )
_
=
1

2
_

P
(1)
l
, P
(2)
l

, 0
_
+

l=+l
0
,l
0

=+l
0
,l
0
C
(1)
1,P
l
(t )C
(2)
1,P
l

(t )

P
(1)
l
, P
(2)
l

, 1
_
_
.
This represents the three partite atom-eld entangled state. Both A
n
and |B
n
|, disappear for n =0. Hence, we nd
the rst term of Eq. (11) without summation which explains the undeected propagation of the two atoms when
they pass through the cavity eld in vacuum state. The second term of Eq. (11) indicates the existence of a product
state of atomic momentum for one photon eld present in the cavity. However, a control on interaction time of
atoms with the cavity eld, leads us to maximally entangled atom-eld state. We nd that Eq. (11) reduces to
(12)

at,f
(t )
_
=
1

2
_

P
(1)
+l
0
, P
(2)
l
0
, 0
_
e
i

P
(1)
l
0
, P
(2)
+l
0
, 1
__
,
for an interaction time t =s/B
1
, where s is an odd integer. The phase depends on the order of Bragg scattering
l
0
and the cavity eld photon number n = 1 and is given as = 2sA
1
/B
1
. We get the same three-partite
maximally entangled state if one atom interacts for a time t = s/B
1
with the cavity eld, whereas the other
atom with a time difference of 2r/B
1
, where r is an even integer. This makes =2(s +r)A
1
/B
1
.
A. Khalique, F. Saif / Physics Letters A 314 (2003) 3743 41
We generate the maximally entangled EPR state in the atomic external degrees of freedoms by tailoring the
three-partite entangled state, given in Eq. (12). For the purpose, we project the cavity eld state on the internal
states of another two level atom. The probe atom is initially prepared in ground state and is in resonance with the
optical cavity eld. It interacts with the cavity for a time required for half of the Rabi cycle, and hence leaves the
cavity eld in vacuum state. This leads to the entanglement of the two atomic external degrees of freedom with the
internal states of the probe atom, that is,
(13)

at,at
(t )
_
=
1

2
_

P
(1)
+l
0
, P
(2)
l
0
, g
_
e
i

P
(1)
l
0
, P
(2)
+l
0
, e
__
.
Thus we see that the internal states of probe atom take the place of cavity eld states. As a next step, we pass the
atom through a /2 Ramsey pulse [28]. The phase of the Ramsey pulse is /2, which leads to |g
1

2
[|g +|e]
and |e
1

2
[|g |e]. For probe atom in state |g, we get the Bell basis
(14)

at
(t )
_
=
1

2
_

P
(1)
+l
0
, P
(2)
l
0
_
e
i

P
(1)
l
0
, P
(2)
+l
0
__
.
and for state |e, we obtain the other Bell state
(15)

at
(t )
_
=
1

2
_

P
(1)
+l
0
, P
(2)
l
0
_
+e
i

P
(1)
l
0
, P
(2)
+l
0
__
.
We may generate the other two entangled states of the Bell basis by preparing the two atoms in the same initial
momentum states, either |P
+l
0
or P
l
0
, and let them interact with the cavity eld in the superposition state. In
case the eld is in vacuum state, |0, the incident atoms pass undeected, whereas, in presence of eld state, |1,
the probability amplitudes of the incident atoms oscillate as a function of interaction time. Following our above
discussion, we again adjust the interaction time of atoms, and then tailor the three-partite atom-eld entanglement
via a probe atom. This leads us to the Bell state
(16)

at
(t )
_
=
1

2
_

P
(1)
+l
0
, P
(2)
+l
0
_
e
i

P
(1)
l
0
, P
(2)
l
0
__
,
for the probe atom in state |g, and
(17)

at
(t )
_
=
1

2
_

P
(1)
+l
0
, P
(2)
+l
0
_
+e
i

P
(1)
l
0
, P
(2)
l
0
__
,
for the probe atom in state |e. Here, one atom interacts for a time s/B
n
and the other atom interacts keeping a
time difference of 2r/B
n
. Thus our scheme based on Bragg scattering of atoms enables to generate complete set
of Bell basis in the atomic external degrees of freedom.
5. Discussion
Our suggested scheme allows to generate entanglement between atomic external degrees of freedom dened by
atomic linear momentum states. The entanglement generation technique is based on the Bragg scattering of two
matter waves from an optical crystal. They pass through an optical eld, which is in superposition state of zero and
one photon, in their well dened initial transversal momentum states and thereafter undergo conditional evolution.
Our technique successfully enables to generate entangled state in the external degrees of freedom of more
than two atoms. For the purpose, we consider more than two atoms, prepared in initial momentum state, either
|P
+l
0
or |P
l
0
, and let them interact simultaneously with the cavity eld which is in superposition state
of zero and one photon. As discussed in Section 4, Bragg scattering of the incident atoms, a control on the
interaction time and proper tailoring of the eld state leads to the generation of GHZ entangled state, which is
42 A. Khalique, F. Saif / Physics Letters A 314 (2003) 3743
1

2
(|P
(1)
+l
0
, P
(2)
+l
0
, . . . , P
(n)
+l
0
e
i
|P
(1)
l
0
, |P
(2)
l
0
, . . . , |P
(n)
l
0
). Here, positive and negative sign results if the probe
atom is in state |e and |g, respectively. The interaction time of the atoms is s/B
1
and the phase is dened as
sA
1
/B
1
. Here, indicates the number of atoms interacting with the eld.
We may get the atomic external degrees of freedom EPR entangled states between two atoms and GHZ states
between more than two atoms by taking the cavity eld in entangled state instead of superposition state. We
consider that the optical cavity eld responsible for Bragg scattering is entangled with another cavity eld in the
same mode. We express the cavity eld state as 1/

2(|0 1 +|1 0) and consider the two atoms with momentum

|P
(1)
+l
0
and |P
(2)
l
0
, interact with the optical cavity eld. Hence, after observing Bragg scattering, the momentum
states of scattered atoms are entangled with the two-cavity state, thus, making a four-partite entangled state, viz,
|
at,f
(t ) =
1

2
[|P
(1)
+l
0
, P
(2)
l
0
, 0, 1 e
i
|P
(1)
l
0
, P
(2)
+l
0
, 1, 0]. Later, we get the atomic external degrees of freedom
entanglement from the four-partite atom-eld entangled state by propagating a resonant two-level probe atom from
the two cavities. The probe atom is initially prepared in ground state and is resonant with the cavity eld. We
assume that it does not decay radiatively inside the cavity but its life time is less than the time of ight between the
two cavities. Thus after propagation through the two cavities for a time required for half of the Rabi cycle in each
cavity, we nd themin vacuumstate and atomin a superposition state. Again, passing the probe atomthrough a /2
Ramsey pulse, we nd a quantum mapping of the cavity eld entangled state on the external degrees of freedom of
atoms. However, generation of entanglement between optical cavities required for the quantum mapping is yet to
be performed experimentally.
Our suggested theoretical scheme can be realized in the laboratory experiments following the experimental
setups of references [20,29,30]. The total experimental time includes the preparation of superposition state of zero
and one photon of the cavity eld, Bragg diffraction of atoms from the cavity and read out of the cavity eld state.
In order to prepare a superposition state of the cavity eld, we [30] let a rubidium atom interact with the cavity for
an interaction time of 30 ns. Later another pair of rubidium atoms [30] are used to observe Bragg diffraction which
require an interaction time of about 60 ns. For cavity eld state read out a rubidium atom is again interacted for
30 ns. The life time of the atom is 300 ns, which allows the atom to pass without any spontaneous emission. Hence
a cavity of lifetime 600 ns [30], larger than the total experimental time, is much suitable to perform an experiment
in laboratory following our theoretical suggestions.
The detection of the atomic external degree of freedom entanglement can be done rst by tagging the scattered
atoms and, second, by performing another scattering and observing the interference of the entangled atoms. We
may perform the time tagging of the atoms by providing a slight time delay in the initial propagation of the two
atoms. The deection and no-deection of the atoms fromthe quantized cavity eld, which generates the entangled
atomic states, results in a negative or positive time delay, respectively in the later propagation of atoms. We let the
two entangled atoms pass transversely through a classical eld. The atoms, far from resonance, observe another
scattering. The scattered atoms display an interference pattern in their evolution in time which is shifted up or
down depending upon positive or negative time delay in the atomic arrival time at the cavity eld [31]. We can
determine all the entangled states of the Bell bases by following quantum cataloging [7]. The scheme may lead to
engineer external degrees of freedom entanglement between different isotopes of same material, atoms of different
materials, an atom and an ion and two BoseEinstein condensates.
Acknowledgements
We thank G. Alber, H. Ritsch, G. Ghirardi and W.P. Schleich for many helpful and stimulating discussions on
the manuscript. A.K. and F.S. submit there thanks to Abdus-Salam ICTP, Trieste, Italy to provide hospitality at the
center and conducive support to nish this work.
A. Khalique, F. Saif / Physics Letters A 314 (2003) 3743 43
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