Two-mode Bose gas: Beyond classical squeezing

The dynamical evolution of squeezing correlations in an ultracold Bose-Einstein condensate distributed across two modes is investigated theoretically in the framework of the Bose-Hubbard model. It is shown that the eigenstates of the Hamiltonian do not exploit the full region allowed by Heisenberg’s uncertainty relation for number and phase fluctuations. The development of nonclassical correlations and relative number squeezing is studied in the transition from the Josephson to the Fock regime. Comparing the full quantum evolution with classical statistical simulations allows us to identify quantum aspects of the squeezing formation. In the quantum regime, the measurement of squeezing allows us to distinguish even and odd total particle numbers.