215 research outputs found
Superpositions in Atomic Quantum Rings
Ultracold atoms are trapped circumferentially on a ring that is pierced at
its center by a flux tube arising from a light-induced gauge potential due to
applied Laguerre-Gaussian fields. We show that by using optical coherent state
superpositions to produce light-induced gauge potentials, we can create a
situation in which the trapped atoms are simultaneously exposed to two distinct
flux tubes, thereby creating superpositions in atomic quantum rings. We
consider the examples of both a ring geometry and harmonic trapping, and in
both cases the ground state of the quantum system is shown to be a
superposition of counter-rotating states of the atom trapped on the two
distinct flux tubes.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
Phase Separation of a Fast Rotating Boson-Fermion Mixture in the Lowest-Landau-Level Regime
By minimizing the coupled mean-field energy functionals, we investigate the
ground-state properties of a rotating atomic boson-fermion mixture in a
two-dimensional parabolic trap. At high angular frequencies in the
mean-field-lowest-Landau-level regime, quantized vortices enter the bosonic
condensate, and a finite number of degenerate fermions form the
maximum-density-droplet state. As the boson-fermion coupling constant
increases, the maximum density droplet develops into a lower-density state
associated with the phase separation, revealing characteristics of a
Landau-level structure
Effectively attractive Bose-Einstein condensates in a rotating toroidal trap
We examine an effectively attractive quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein
condensate of atoms confined in a rotating toroidal trap, as the magnitude of
the coupling constant and the rotational frequency are varied. Using both a
variational mean-field approach, as well as a diagonalization technique, we
identify the phase diagram between a uniform and a localized state and we
describe the system in the two phases.Comment: 4 pages, 4 ps figures, RevTe
Attractive ultracold bosons in a necklace optical potential
We study the ground state properties of the Bose-Hubbard model with
attractive interactions on a M-site one-dimensional periodic -- necklace-like
-- lattice, whose experimental realization in terms of ultracold atoms is
promised by a recently proposed optical trapping scheme, as well as by the
control over the atomic interactions and tunneling amplitudes granted by
well-established optical techniques. We compare the properties of the quantum
model to a semiclassical picture based on a number-conserving su(M) coherent
state, which results into a set of modified discrete nonlinear Schroedinger
equations. We show that, owing to the presence of a correction factor ensuing
from number conservation, the ground-state solution to these equations provides
a remarkably satisfactory description of its quantum counterpart not only -- as
expected -- in the weak-interaction, superfluid regime, but even in the deeply
quantum regime of large interactions and possibly small populations. In
particular, we show that in this regime, the delocalized, Schroedinger-cat-like
quantum ground state can be seen as a coherent quantum superposition of the
localized, symmetry-breaking ground-state of the variational approach. We also
show that, depending on the hopping to interaction ratio, three regimes can be
recognized both in the semiclassical and quantum picture of the system.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures; typos corrected and references added; to appear
in Phys. Rev.
Metastable Quantum Phase Transitions in a Periodic One-dimensional Bose Gas: Mean-Field and Bogoliubov Analyses
We generalize the concept of quantum phase transitions, which is
conventionally defined for a ground state and usually applied in the
thermodynamic limit, to one for \emph{metastable states} in \emph{finite size
systems}. In particular, we treat the one-dimensional Bose gas on a ring in the
presence of both interactions and rotation. To support our study, we bring to
bear mean-field theory, i.e., the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation, and linear
perturbation or Bogoliubov-de Gennes theory. Both methods give a consistent
result in the weakly interacting regime: there exist \emph{two topologically
distinct quantum phases}. The first is the typical picture of superfluidity in
a Bose-Einstein condensate on a ring: average angular momentum is quantized and
the superflow is uniform. The second is new: one or more dark solitons appear
as stationary states, breaking the symmetry, the average angular momentum
becomes a continuous quantity, and the phase of the condensate can be
continuously wound and unwound
Stability of the density-wave state of a dipolar condensate in a pancake trap
We study a dipolar boson-fermion mixture in a pancake geometry at absolute
zero temperature, generalizing our previous work on the stability of polar
condensates and the formation of a density-wave state in cylindrical traps.
After examining the dependence of the polar condensate stability on the
strength of the fermion-induced interaction, we determine the transition point
from a ground-state Gaussian to a hexagonal density-wave state. We use a
variational principle to analyze the stability properties of those density-wave
state
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