We propose a direct, coherent coupling scheme that can create massively entangled states of Bose-Einstein-condensed atoms. Our idea is based on an effective interaction between two atoms from coherent Raman processes through a (two-atom) molecular intermediate state. We compare our scheme with other recent proposals for generation of massive entanglement of Bose-Einstein-condensed atoms. We also present explicit calculations that support the possibility of detecting maximally entangled states without requiring single-atom resolved measurements.

• Received 9 December 2002

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.68.043622