Localization of a Bose-Fermi mixture in a bichromatic optical lattice

We study the localization of a cigar-shaped super-fluid Bose-Fermi mixture in a quasi-periodic bichromatic optical lattice (OL) for inter-species attraction and intra-species repulsion. The mixture is described by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for the bosons, coupled to a hydrodynamic mean-field equation for fermions at unitarity. We confirm the existence of the symbiotic localized states in the Bose-Fermi mixture and Anderson localization of the Bose component in the interacting Bose-Fermi mixture on a bichromatic OL. The phase diagram in boson and fermion numbers showing the regions of the symbiotic and Anderson localization of the Bose component is presented. Finally, the stability of symbiotic and Anderson localized states is established under small perturbations

Symmetry breaking in a localized interacting binary BEC in a bi-chromatic optical lattice

By direct numerical simulation of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation using the split-step Fourier spectral method we study different aspects of the localization of a cigar-shaped interacting binary (two-component) Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a one-dimensional bi-chromatic quasi-periodic optical-lattice potential, as used in a recent experiment on the localization of a BEC [Roati et al., Nature 453, 895 (2008)]. We consider two types of localized states: (i) when both localized components have a maximum of density at the origin x=0, and (ii) when the first component has a maximum of density and the second a minimum of density at x=0. In the non-interacting case the density profiles are symmetric around x=0. We numerically study the breakdown of this symmetry due to inter-species and intra-species interaction acting on the two components. Where possible, we have compared the numerical results with a time-dependent variational analysis. We also demonstrate the stability of the localized symmetry-broken BEC states under small perturbation.Comment: 9 page

Localization of a spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate in a bichromatic optical lattice

We study the localization of a noninteracting and weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate with spin-orbit coupling loaded in a quasiperiodic bichromatic optical lattice potential using the numerical solution and variational approximation of a binary mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii equation with two pseudo-spin components. We confirm the existence of the stationary localized states in the presence of the spin-orbit and Rabi couplings for an equal distribution of atoms in the two components. We find that the interaction between the spin-orbit and Rabi couplings favors the localization or delocalization of the BEC depending on the the phase difference between the components. We also studied the oscillation dynamics of the localized states for an initial population imbalance between the two components

Localization of collisionally inhomogeneous condensates in a bichromatic optical lattice

By direct numerical simulation and variational solution of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we studied the stationary and dynamic characteristics of a cigar-shaped, localized, collisionally inhomogeneous Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a one-dimensional bichromatic quasi-periodic optical-lattice potential, as used in a recent experiment on the localization of a Bose-Einstein condensate [Roati et al., Nature (London) {\bf 453}, 895 (2008)]. The effective potential characterizing the spatially modulated nonlinearity is obtained. It is found that the collisional inhomogeneity has influence not only on the central region but also on the tail of the Bose-Einstein condensate. The influence depends on the sign and value of the spatially modulated nonlinearity coefficient. We also demonstrate the stability of the stationary localized stat$ performing a standard linear stability analysis. Where possible, the numerical results are shown to be in good agreement with the variational results

Matter-wave localization in a weakly perturbed optical lattice

By numerical solution and variational approximation of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we studied the localization of a noninteracting and weakly-interacting Bose-Einstein condensate in a weakly perturbed optical lattice in one and three dimensions. The perturbation achieved through a weak delocalizing expulsive or a linear potential as well as a weak localizing harmonic potential removes the periodicity of the optical lattice and leads to localization. We also studied some dynamics of the localized state confirming its stability

Matter-wave localization in a random potential

By numerical and variational solution of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we studied the localization of a noninteracting and weakly-interacting Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a disordered cold atom lattice and a speckle potential. In the case of a single BEC fragment, the variational analysis produced good results. For a weakly disordered potential, the localized BECs are found to have an exponential tail as in weak Anderson localization. We also investigated the expansion of a noninteracting BEC in these potential. We find that the BEC will be locked in an appropriate localized state after an initial expansion and will execute breathing oscillation around a mean shape when a BEC at equilibrium in a harmonic trap is suddenly released into a disorder potential

Inverse Orbital Hall Effect Discovered from Light-Induced Terahertz Emission

Recent progress in orbitronics reveals the possibility of using orbital current as an information carrier. The interconversion between orbital currents and charge currents is crucial for orbital information processing. Although orbital currents can be created from charge current via the orbital Hall effect, the conversion from orbital current into charge current has not yet been discovered experimentally, which is due to the lack of a reliable orbital current source and disturbance of the omnipresent inverse spin Hall effect. In this study, we generate ultrafast pulses of orbital current in magnetic bilayers and trilayers from femtosecond laser pulses. We demonstrate that by injecting orbital current pulses into nonmagnetic metals, the inverse orbital Hall effect of the nonmagnetic layer induces a transient charge current and emits terahertz electromagnetic pulses. The nonmagnetic metal layer acts as a converter of the orbital current into the charge current. The discovery of the inverse orbital Hall effect enables detection of orbital currents and opens a new route for developing future orbitronic devices

DNA barcoding of Antarctic marine zooplankton for species identification and recognition

Polar zooplankton are particularly sensitive to climate change, and have been used as rapid-responders to indicate climate-induced changes in the fragile Antarctic ecosystem. DNA barcoding provides an alternative approach for rapid zooplankton species identification. Ninety-four specimens belonging to 32 Antarctic zooplankton species were barcoded to construct a comprehensive reference library. An 830 to 1 050 base-pair region of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (mtCOI) gene was obtained as DNA barcodes. The intraspecific variation of the gene ranged from 0 to 2.6% (p-distance), with an average of 0.67% (SD=0.67%). The distance between species within the same genera ranged from 0.1% (Calanus) to 29.3%, with an average of 15.3% (SD=8.4%). The morphological and genetic similarities between Calanus propinquus and C. simillimus raise new questions about the taxonomic status of C. simillimus. With the exception of the two Calanus species, the intraspecific genetic divergence was much smaller than the interspecific divergence among congeneric species, confirming the existence of a barcode gap for Antarctic zooplankton. In addition, species other than Calanus sp. formed a monophyletic group. Therefore, we have confirmed DNA barcoding as an accurate and efficient approach for zooplankton identification in the Antarctic area (except for Hydromedusa, Tunicata, and other gelatinous zooplankton). Indicator vector analysis further confirmed this conclusion. The new primer sets issued here may facilitate the study of Antarctic marine zooplankton species composition by environmental metagenetic analysis

Orbitronics: Light-induced Orbit Currents in Terahertz Emission Experiments

Orbitronics is based on the use of orbit currents as information carriers. Up to now, orbit currents were created from the conversion of charge or spin currents, and inversely, they could be converted back to charge or spin currents. Here we demonstrate that orbit currents can also be generated by femtosecond light pulses on Ni. In multilayers associating Ni with oxides and nonmagnetic metals such as Cu, we detect the orbit currents by their conversion into charge currents and the resulting terahertz emission. We show that the orbit currents extraordinarily predominate the light-induced spin currents in Ni-based systems, whereas only spin currents can be detected with CoFeB-based systems. In addition, the analysis of the time delays of the terahertz pulses leads to relevant information on the velocity and propagation of orbit carriers. Our finding of light-induced orbit currents and our observation of their conversion into charge currents opens new avenues in orbitronics, including the development of orbitronic terahertz devices