84 research outputs found
Anomalous coupling between topological defects and curvature
We investigate a counterintuitive geometric interaction between defects and
curvature in thin layers of superfluids, superconductors and liquid crystals
deposited on curved surfaces. Each defect feels a geometric potential whose
functional form is determined only by the shape of the surface, but whose sign
and strength depend on the transformation properties of the order parameter.
For superfluids and superconductors, the strength of this interaction is
proportional to the square of the charge and causes all defects to be repelled
(attracted) by regions of positive (negative) Gaussian curvature. For liquid
crystals in the one elastic constant approximation, charges between 0 and
are attracted by regions of positive curvature while all other charges
are repelled.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, minor changes, accepted for publication in Phys.
Rev. Let
Stability of the vortex lattice in a rotating superfluid
We analyze the stability of the vortex lattice in a rotating superfluid
against thermal fluctuations associated with the long-wavelength Tkachenko
modes of the lattice. Inclusion of only the two-dimensional modes leads
formally to instability in infinite lattices; however, when the full
three-dimensional spectrum of modes is taken into account, the
thermally-induced lattice displacements are indeed finite.Comment: 16 page
Vortex lattices in rapidly rotating Bose-Einstein condensates: modes and correlation functions
After delineating the physical regimes which vortex lattices encounter in
rotating Bose-Einstein condensates as the rotation rate, , increases,
we derive the normal modes of the vortex lattice in two dimensions at zero
temperature. Taking into account effects of the finite compressibility, we find
an inertial mode of frequency , and a primarily transverse
Tkachenko mode, whose frequency goes from being linear in the wave vector in
the slowly rotating regime, where is small compared with the lowest
compressional mode frequency, to quadratic in the wave vector in the opposite
limit. We calculate the correlation functions of vortex displacements and
phase, density and superfluid velocities, and find that the zero-point
excitations of the soft quadratic Tkachenko modes lead in a large system to a
loss of long range phase correlations, growing logarithmically with distance,
and hence lead to a fragmented state at zero temperature. The vortex positional
ordering is preserved at zero temperature, but the thermally excited Tkachenko
modes cause the relative positional fluctuations to grow logarithmically with
separation at finite temperature. The superfluid density, defined in terms of
the transverse velocity autocorrelation function, vanishes at all temperatures.
Finally we construct the long wavelength single particle Green's function in
the rotating system and calculate the condensate depletion as a function of
temperature.Comment: 11 pages Latex, no figure
Oscillations of a rapidly rotating annular Bose-Einstein condensate
A time-dependent variational Lagrangian analysis based on the
Gross-Pitaevskii energy functional serves to study the dynamics of a metastable
giant vortex in a rapidly rotating Bose-Einstein condensate. The resulting
oscillation frequencies of the core radius reproduce the trends seen in recent
experiments [Engels et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 170405 (2003)], but the
theoretical values are smaller by a factor approximately 0.6-0.8.Comment: 7 pages, revtex
Polygonal N-vortex arrays: A Stuart model
Published versio
A trapped single ion inside a Bose-Einstein condensate
Improved control of the motional and internal quantum states of ultracold
neutral atoms and ions has opened intriguing possibilities for quantum
simulation and quantum computation. Many-body effects have been explored with
hundreds of thousands of quantum-degenerate neutral atoms and coherent
light-matter interfaces have been built. Systems of single or a few trapped
ions have been used to demonstrate universal quantum computing algorithms and
to detect variations of fundamental constants in precision atomic clocks. Until
now, atomic quantum gases and single trapped ions have been treated separately
in experiments. Here we investigate whether they can be advantageously combined
into one hybrid system, by exploring the immersion of a single trapped ion into
a Bose-Einstein condensate of neutral atoms. We demonstrate independent control
over the two components within the hybrid system, study the fundamental
interaction processes and observe sympathetic cooling of the single ion by the
condensate. Our experiment calls for further research into the possibility of
using this technique for the continuous cooling of quantum computers. We also
anticipate that it will lead to explorations of entanglement in hybrid quantum
systems and to fundamental studies of the decoherence of a single, locally
controlled impurity particle coupled to a quantum environment
Coherently Scattering Atoms from an Excited Bose-Einstein Condensate
We consider scattering atoms from a fully Bose-Einstein condensed gas. If we
take these atoms to be identical to those in the Bose-Einstein condensate, this
scattering process is to a large extent analogous to Andreev reflection from
the interface between a superconducting and a normal metal. We determine the
scattering wave function both in the absence and the presence of a vortex. Our
results show a qualitative difference between these two cases that can be
understood as due to an Aharonov-Bohm effect. It leads to the possibility to
experimentally detect and study vortices in this way.Comment: 5 pages of ReVTeX and 2 postscript figure
Vortices and dynamics in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates
I review the basic physics of ultracold dilute trapped atomic gases, with
emphasis on Bose-Einstein condensation and quantized vortices. The hydrodynamic
form of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation (a nonlinear Schr{\"o}dinger equation)
illuminates the role of the density and the quantum-mechanical phase. One
unique feature of these experimental systems is the opportunity to study the
dynamics of vortices in real time, in contrast to typical experiments on
superfluid He. I discuss three specific examples (precession of single
vortices, motion of vortex dipoles, and Tkachenko oscillations of a vortex
array). Other unusual features include the study of quantum turbulence and the
behavior for rapid rotation, when the vortices form dense regular arrays.
Ultimately, the system is predicted to make a quantum phase transition to
various highly correlated many-body states (analogous to bosonic quantum Hall
states) that are not superfluid and do not have condensate wave functions. At
present, this transition remains elusive. Conceivably, laser-induced synthetic
vector potentials can serve to reach this intriguing phase transition.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Low Temperature Physics,
conference proceedings: Symposia on Superfluids under Rotation (Lammi,
Finland, April 2010
Exploding electron bubbles.
Electron bubbles, used in laboratories throughout the world for probing the unusual properties of liquid helium, can be made to explode by the application of negative pressure, according to investigations by Classen et al. published last month
From Coherent Modes to Turbulence and Granulation of Trapped Gases
The process of exciting the gas of trapped bosons from an equilibrium initial
state to strongly nonequilibrium states is described as a procedure of symmetry
restoration caused by external perturbations. Initially, the trapped gas is
cooled down to such low temperatures, when practically all atoms are in
Bose-Einstein condensed state, which implies the broken global gauge symmetry.
Excitations are realized either by imposing external alternating fields,
modulating the trapping potential and shaking the cloud of trapped atoms, or it
can be done by varying atomic interactions by means of Feshbach resonance
techniques. Gradually increasing the amount of energy pumped into the system,
which is realized either by strengthening the modulation amplitude or by
increasing the excitation time, produces a series of nonequilibrium states,
with the growing fraction of atoms for which the gauge symmetry is restored. In
this way, the initial equilibrium system, with the broken gauge symmetry and
all atoms condensed, can be excited to the state, where all atoms are in the
normal state, with completely restored gauge symmetry. In this process, the
system, starting from the regular superfluid state, passes through the states
of vortex superfluid, turbulent superfluid, heterophase granular fluid, to the
state of normal chaotic fluid in turbulent regime. Both theoretical and
experimental studies are presented.Comment: Latex file, 25 pages, 4 figure
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