Transport in a harmonic trap: shortcuts to adiabaticity and robust protocols

Abstract

We study the fast transport of a particle or a Bose-Einstein condensate in a harmonic potential. An exact expression for the final excitation energy in terms of the Fourier transform of the trap acceleration is used to engineer optimal transport protocols (with no final excitation) that are robust with respect to spring-constant errors. The same technique provides a way to design the simultaneous and robust transport of a few non-interacting species that experience different harmonic trap frequencies in the same trap.