Formation of a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate and an entangled atomic gas by Feshbach resonance

Association in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate, and dissociation of the resulting molecular condensate, due to a Feshbach resonance in a time-dependent magnetic field, are analyzed incorporating non-mean-field quantum corrections and inelastic collisions. Calculations for the Na atomic condensate demonstrate that there exist optimal conditions under which about 80% of the atomic population can be converted to a relatively long-lived molecular condensate (with lifetimes of 100 ms and more). Entangled atoms in two-mode squeezed states (with noise reduction of about 30 dB) may also be formed by molecular dissociation.