A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Thermometry of ultracold atoms via nonequilibrium work distributions
Authors: Johnson TH, Cosco F, Mitchison MT, Jaksch D, Clark SR
Publisher: AMER PHYSICAL SOC
Publication year: 2016
Journal: Physical Review A
Journal name in source: PHYSICAL REVIEW A
Journal acronym: PHYS REV A
Article number: ARTN 053619
Volume: 93
Issue: 5
Number of pages: 6
ISSN: 2469-9926
eISSN: 2469-9934
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.93.053619
Abstract
Estimating the temperature of a cold quantum system is difficult. Usually one measures a well-understood thermal state and uses that prior knowledge to infer its temperature. In contrast, we introduce a method of thermometry that assumes minimal knowledge of the state of a system and is potentially nondestructive. Our method uses a universal temperature dependence of the quench dynamics of an initially thermal system coupled to a qubit probe that follows from the Tasaki-Crooks theorem for nonequilibrium work distributions. We provide examples for a cold-atom system, in which our thermometry protocol may retain accuracy and precision at subnano-Kelvin temperatures.
Estimating the temperature of a cold quantum system is difficult. Usually one measures a well-understood thermal state and uses that prior knowledge to infer its temperature. In contrast, we introduce a method of thermometry that assumes minimal knowledge of the state of a system and is potentially nondestructive. Our method uses a universal temperature dependence of the quench dynamics of an initially thermal system coupled to a qubit probe that follows from the Tasaki-Crooks theorem for nonequilibrium work distributions. We provide examples for a cold-atom system, in which our thermometry protocol may retain accuracy and precision at subnano-Kelvin temperatures.
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