Self-induced spatial dynamics to enhance spin squeezing via one-axis twisting in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate

We theoretically investigate a scheme to enhance relative number squeezing and spin squeezing in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) by utilizing the inherent mean-field dynamics of the condensate. Due to the asymmetry in the scattering lengths, the two components exhibit large density oscillations where they spatially separate and recombine. The effective nonlinearity responsible for the squeezing is increased by up to 3 orders of magnitude when the two components spatially separate. We perform a multimode simulation of the system using the truncated Wigner method and show that this method can be used to create significant squeezing in systems where the effective nonlinearity would ordinarily be too small to produce any significant squeezing in sensible time frames, and we show that strong spatial dynamics resulting from large particle numbers aren't necessarily detrimental to generating squeezing. We develop a simplified semianalytic model that gives good agreement with our multimode simulation and will be useful for predicting squeezing in a range of different systems.