Enhancing sensitivity to rotations with quantum solitonic currents

We study a gas of attracting bosons confined in a ring shape potential pierced by an artificial magnetic field. Because of attractive interactions, quantum analogs of bright solitons are formed. As a genuine quantum-many-body feature, we demonstrate that angular momentum fractionalization occurs and that such an effect manifests on time of flight measurements. As a consequence, the matter-wave current in our system can react to very small changes of rotation or other artificial gauge fields. We worked out a protocol to entangle such quantum solitonic currents, allowing us to operate rotation sensors and gyroscopes to Heisenberg-limited sensitivity. Therefore, we demonstrate that the specific coherence and entanglement properties of the system can induce an enhancement of sensitivity to an external rotation.

Automated summary

We study a gas of attracting bosons trapped in a ring potential with an artificial magnetic field and observe the formation of quantum analogs of bright solitons. We demonstrate the occurrence of angular momentum fractionalization as well as the sensitivity of matter-wave current to small changes in rotation or other artificial gauge fields. By entangling the quantum solitonic currents, we can operate rotation sensors and gyroscopes with Heisenberg-limited sensitivity, thereby enhancing the system's sensitivity to external rotation.