451 research outputs found
Dynamics of the BCS-BEC crossover in a degenerate Fermi gas
We study the short-time dynamics of a degenerate Fermi gas positioned near a
Feshbach resonance following an abrupt jump in the atomic interaction resulting
from a change of external magnetic field. We investigate the dynamics of the
condensate order parameter and pair wavefunction for a range of field
strengths. When the abrupt jump is sufficient to span the BCS to BEC crossover,
we show that the rigidity of the momentum distribution precludes any
atom-molecule oscillations in the entrance channel dominated resonances
observed in the 40K and 6Li. Focusing on material parameters tailored to the
40K Feshbach resonance system at 202.1 gauss, we comment on the integrity of
the fast sweet projection technique as a vehicle to explore the condensed phase
in the crossover regionComment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Absorption, Photoluminescence and Resonant Rayleigh Scattering Probes of Condensed Microcavity Polaritons
We investigate and compare different optical probes of a condensed state of
microcavity polaritons in expected experimental conditions of non-resonant
pumping. We show that the energy- and momentum-resolved resonant Rayleigh
signal provide a distinctive probe of condensation as compared to, e.g.,
photoluminescence emission. In particular, the presence of a collective sound
mode both above and below the chemical potential can be observed, as well as
features directly related to the density of states of particle-hole like
excitations. Both resonant Rayleigh response and the absorption and
photoluminescence, are affected by the presence of quantum well disorder, which
introduces a distribution of oscillator strengths between quantum well excitons
at a given energy and cavity photons at a given momentum. As we show, this
distribution makes it important that in the condensed regime, scattering by
disorder is taken into account to all orders. We show that, in the low density
linear limit, this approach correctly describes inhomogeneous broadening of
polaritons. In addition, in this limit, we extract a linear blue-shift of the
lower polariton versus density, with a coefficient determined by temperature
and by a characteristic disorder length.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures; minor correction
Spontaneous rotating vortex rings in a parametrically driven polariton fluid
We present the theoretical prediction of spontaneous rotating vortex rings in
a parametrically driven quantum fluid of polaritons -- coherent superpositions
of coupled quantum well excitons and microcavity photons. These rings arise not
only in the absence of any rotating drive, but also in the absence of a
trapping potential, in a model known to map quantitatively to experiments. We
begin by proposing a novel parametric pumping scheme for polaritons, with
circular symmetry and radial currents, and characterize the resulting
nonequilibrium condensate. We show that the system is unstable to spontaneous
breaking of circular symmetry via a modulational instability, following which a
vortex ring with large net angular momentum emerges, rotating in one of two
topologically distinct states. Such rings are robust and carry distinctive
experimental signatures, and so they could find applications in the new
generation of polaritonic devices.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Non-equilibrium Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless Transition in a Driven Open Quantum System
The Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless mechanism, in which a phase transition is
mediated by the proliferation of topological defects, governs the critical
behaviour of a wide range of equilibrium two-dimensional systems with a
continuous symmetry, ranging from superconducting thin films to two-dimensional
Bose fluids, such as liquid helium and ultracold atoms. We show here that this
phenomenon is not restricted to thermal equilibrium, rather it survives more
generally in a dissipative highly non-equilibrium system driven into a
steady-state. By considering a light-matter superfluid of polaritons, in the
so-called optical parametric oscillator regime, we demonstrate that it indeed
undergoes a vortex binding-unbinding phase transition. Yet, the exponent of the
power-law decay of the first order correlation function in the (algebraically)
ordered phase can exceed the equilibrium upper limit -- a surprising
occurrence, which has also been observed in a recent experiment. Thus we
demonstrate that the ordered phase is somehow more robust against the quantum
fluctuations of driven systems than thermal ones in equilibrium.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure
Vortex dynamics in a compact Kardar-Parisi-Zhang system
We study the dynamics of vortices in a two-dimensional, non-equilibrium
system, described by the compact Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation, after a sudden
quench across the critical region. Our exact numerical solution of the
phase-ordering kinetics shows that the unique interplay between non-equilibrium
and the variable degree of spatial anisotropy leads to different critical
regimes. We provide an analytical expression for the vortex evolution, based on
scaling arguments, which is in agreement with the numerical results, and
confirms the form of the interaction potential between vortices in this system.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures and Supplementary Materia
Full and fractional defects across the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in a driven-dissipative spinor quantum fluid
We investigate the properties of a two-dimensional \emph{spinor} microcavity
polariton system driven by a linearly polarised continuous pump. In particular,
we establish the role of the elementary excitations, namely the so-called
half-vortices and full-vortices; these objects carry a quantum rotation only in
one of the two, or both, spin components respectively. Our numerical analysis
of the steady-state shows that it is only the half-vortices that are present in
the vortex-antivortex pairing/dissociation responsible for the
Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. These are the relevant elementary
excitations close to the critical point. However, by exploring the
phase-ordering dynamics following a sudden quench across the transition we
prove that full-vortices become the relevant excitations away from the critical
point in a deep quasi-ordered state at late times. The time-scales for
half-vortices binding into full vortices are much faster than the
vortex-antivortex annihilations.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure
Voltage controlled nuclear polarization switching in a single InGaAs quantum dot
Sharp threshold-like transitions between two stable nuclear spin
polarizations are observed in optically pumped individual InGaAs self-assembled
quantum dots embedded in a Schottky diode when the bias applied to the diode is
tuned. The abrupt transitions lead to the switching of the Overhauser field in
the dot by up to 3 Tesla. The bias-dependent photoluminescence measurements
reveal the importance of the electron-tunneling-assisted nuclear spin pumping.
We also find evidence for the resonant LO-phonon-mediated electron
co-tunneling, the effect controlled by the applied bias and leading to the
reduction of the nuclear spin pumping rate.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys Rev
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