Dipolar Quantum Gases Research Articles

Droplet formation in a Bose-Einstein condensate with strong dipole-dipole interaction

Motivated by the recent experiment [H. Kadau \textit{et al.}, arXiv:1508.05007 (2015)], we study roton instability and droplet formation in a Bose-Einstein condensate of $^{164}$Dy atoms with strong magnetic dipole-dipole interaction. We numerically solve the cubic-quintic Gross-Pitaevskii equation with dipole-dipole interaction, and show that the three-body interaction plays a significant role in the formation of droplet patterns. We numerically demonstrate the formation of droplet patterns and crystalline structures, decay of droplets, and hysteresis behavior, which are in good agreement with the experiment. Our numerical simulations provide the first prediction on the values of the three-body interaction in a $^{164}$Dy Bose-Einstein condensate. We also predict that the droplets remain stable during the time-of-flight expansion. From our results, further experiments investigating the three-body interaction in dipolar quantum gases are required.

On Dipolar Quantum Gases in the Unstable Regime

We study the nonlinear Schrödinger equation arising in dipolar Bose--Einstein condensate in the unstable regime. Two cases are studied: the first when the system is free, the second when gradually a trapping potential is added. In both cases we first focus on the existence and stability/instability properties of standing waves. Our approach leads to the search of critical points of a constrained functional which is unbounded from below on the constraint. In the free case, by showing that the constrained functional has a so-called mountain pass geometry, we prove the existence of standing states with least energy, the ground states, and show that any ground state is orbitally unstable. Moreover, when the system is free, we show that small data in the energy space scatter in all regimes, stable and unstable. In the second case, if the trapping potential is small, we prove that two different kinds of standing waves appear: one corresponds to a topological local minimizer of the constrained energy functional and consists in ground states, and the other is again of mountain pass type but now corresponds to excited states. We also prove that any ground state is a topological local minimizer. Despite the problem being mass supercritical and the functional being unbounded from below, the standing waves associated to the set of ground states turn out to be orbitally stable. Actually, from the physical point of view, the introduction of the trapping potential stabilizes the system that is initially unstable. Related to this we observe that it also creates a gap in the ground state energy level of the system. In addition when the trapping potential is active the presence of standing waves with arbitrary small norm does not permit small data scattering. Eventually some asymptotic results are also given.

Vortices of a rotating two-component dipolar Bose–Einstein condensate in an optical lattice

We consider a two-component Bose–Einstein condensate, which consists of both dipolar and scalar bosonic atoms, in a confinement that is composed of a harmonic oscillator and an underlying optical lattice set rotation. When the dipoles are polarized along the symmetry axis of the harmonic potential, the ground-state density distributions of such a system are investigated as a function of the relative strength between the dipolar and contact interactions, and of the rotation frequency. Our results show that the number of vortices and its related vortex structures of such a system depend strongly on such system parameters. The special two-component system considered here opens up alternate ways for exploring the rich physics of dipolar quantum gases.

Tunable defect interactions and supersolidity in dipolar quantum gases on a lattice potential

Point defects in self-assembled crystals, such as vacancies and interstitials, attract each other and form stable clusters. This leads to a phase separation between perfect crystalline structures and defect conglomerates at low temperatures. We propose a method that allows one to tune the effective interactions between point defects from attractive to repulsive by means of external periodic fields. In the quantum regime, this allows one to engineer strongly-correlated many-body phases. We exemplify the microscopic mechanism by considering dipolar quantum gases of ground state polar molecules and weakly bound molecules of strongly magnetic atoms trapped in a weak optical lattice in a two-dimensional configuration. By tuning the lattice depth, defect interactions turn repulsive, which allows us to deterministically design a novel supersolid phase in the continuum limit.

Complementary study of the standing wave solutions of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation in dipolar quantum gases

We study the stability of the standing wave solutions of a Gross-Pitaevskii equation describing Bose-Einstein condensation of dipolar quantum gases and characterize their orbit. As an intermediate step, we consider the corresponding constrained minimization problem and establish existence, symmetry and uniqueness of the ground state solutions.

Blow up threshold for the Gross‐Pitaevskii system with trapped dipolar quantum gases

In this paper, we study the Gross‐Pitaevskii system with trapped dipolar quantum gases. We obtain both the stable regime and the unstable regime. Moreover, via a construction of cross minimization problem, the blow up threshold is established.

Magnetic kink states emulated with dipolar superlattice gases

We propose an effective Ising spin chain constructed with dipolar quantum gases confined in a one-dimensional optical superlattice. Mapping the motional degree of freedom of a single particle in the lattice onto a pseudo-spin results in an effective Ising type chain dressed with transverse and longitudinal magnetic fields. The ground state of this effective Ising chain changes from a paramagnetic to a single-kink state as the dipolar interaction increases. Particularly in the single-kink state this effective chain permits emulations of magnetic kink effects. Being realizable with current experimental techniques, this effective Ising chain presents a unique platform for emulations of Ising physics and enriches the toolbox for quantum emulation of spin models by ultracold quantum gases.

Stability of a trapped dipolar quantum gas

We calculate the stability diagram for a trapped normal Fermi or Bose gas with dipole-dipole interactions. Our study characterizes the roles of trap geometry and temperature on the stability using Hartree-Fock theory. We find that exchange appreciably reduces stability, and that, for bosons, the double instability feature in oblate trapping geometries predicted previously is still predicted by the Hartree-Fock theory. Our results are relevant to current experiments with polar molecules and will be useful in developing strategies to obtain a polar molecule Bose-Einstein condensate or degenerate Fermi gas.

Ultracold dense samples of dipolar RbCs molecules in the rovibrational and hyperfine ground state.

We produce ultracold dense trapped samples of ^{87}Rb^{133}Cs molecules in their rovibrational ground state, with full nuclear hyperfine state control, by stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) with efficiencies of 90%. We observe the onset of hyperfine-changing collisions when the magnetic field is ramped so that the molecules are no longer in the hyperfine ground state. A strong quadratic shift of the transition frequencies as a function of applied electric field shows the strongly dipolar character of the RbCs ground-state molecule. Our results open up the prospect of realizing stable bosonic dipolar quantum gases with ultracold molecules.

Quantum gases. Observation of Fermi surface deformation in a dipolar quantum gas.

In the presence of isotropic interactions, the Fermi surface of an ultracold Fermi gas is spherical. Introducing anisotropic interactions can deform the Fermi surface, but the effect is subtle and challenging to observe experimentally. Here, we report on the observation of a Fermi surface deformation in a degenerate dipolar Fermi gas of erbium atoms. The deformation is caused by the interplay between strong magnetic dipole-dipole interaction and the Pauli exclusion principle. We demonstrate the many-body nature of the effect and its tunability with the Fermi energy. Our observation provides a basis for future studies on anisotropic many-body phenomena in normal and superfluid phases.

Quasi-one-dimensional dipolar quantum gases

In this letter we consider dipolar quantum gases in a quasi-one-dimensional tube with dipole moment perpendicular to the tube direction. We deduce the effective one-dimensional interaction potential and show that this potential is not purely repulsive, but rather has an attractive part due to high-order scattering processes through transverse excited states. The attractive part can induce bound state and cause scattering resonances. This represents the dipole induced resonance in low-dimension. We work out an unconventional behavior of low-energy phase shift for this effective potential and show how it evolves across a resonance. Based on the phase shift, the interaction energy of spinless bosons is obtained using asymptotic Bethe ansatz. Despite of long-range nature of dipolar interaction, we find that a behavior similar as short-range Lieb-Linger gas emerges at the resonance regime.

Tunable high-temperature thermodynamics of weakly interacting dipolar gases

We consider dilute gases of dipolar bosons or fermions in the high-temperature limit in a spherically symmetric harmonic trapping potential. We examine the system using a virial expansion up to second order in the fugacity. Using the Born approximation and assuming purely dipolar interactions, we find that the second-order virial coefficient for both bosons and fermions depends quadratically on the dipole length and is negative at high temperatures, indicating that to lowest order in the dipole-dipole interactions the dipolar single-component quantum gases are repulsive. If the $s$-wave scattering length for the bosonic system is tunable and its absolute value is made small, then the $s$-wave interactions dominate and the dipolar gas behaves like a weakly interacting Bose gas with isotropic $s$-wave interactions. If the generalized scattering lengths for the fermionic system are tunable, then the dipole length can enter linearly in the virial equation of state, enhancing the dipole-dipole effects in the thermodynamic observables.

Effects of magnetic dipole-dipole interactions in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates with tunables-wave interactions

The s-wave interaction is usually the dominant form of interactions in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). Recently, Feshbach resonances have been employed to reduce the strength of the s-wave interaction in many atomic speicies. This opens the possibilities to study magnetic dipole-dipole interactions (MDDI) in BECs, where the novel physics resulting from long-range and anisotropic dipolar interactions can be explored. Using a variational method, we study the effect of MDDI on the statics and dynamics of atomic BECs with tunable s-wave interactions. We benchmark our calculation against previously observed MDDI effects in $^{52}$Cr with excellent agreement, and predict new effects that should be promising to observe experimentally. A parameter of magnetic Feshbach resonances, $\epsilon_{dd,\text{max}}$, is used to quantitatively indicate the feasibility of experimentally observing MDDI effects in different atomic species. We find that strong MDDI effects should be observable in both in-trap and time-of-flight behaviors for the alkali BECs of $^{7}$Li, $^{39}$K, and $^{133}$Cs. Our results provide a helpful guide for experimentalists to realize and study atomic dipolar quantum gases.

Sharp Threshold of the Gross-Pitaevskii Equation with Trapped Dipolar Quantum Gases

AbstractIn this paper, we consider the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for the trapped dipolar quantum gases. We obtain the sharp criterion for the global existence and finite time blow-up in the unstable regime by constructing a variational problem and the so-called invariant manifold of the evolution flow.

High- and low-frequency phonon modes in dipolar quantum gases trapped in deep lattices

We study normal modes propagating on top of the stable uniform background in arrays of dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) droplets trapped in a deep optical lattice. Both the on-site mean-field dynamics of the droplets and their displacement due to the repulsive dipole-dipole interactions (DDIs) are taken into account. Dispersion relations for two modes, viz., high- and low- frequency counterparts of optical and acoustic phonon modes in condensed matter, are derived analytically and verified by direct simulations, for both cases of the repulsive and attractive contact interactions. The (counterpart of the) optical-phonon branch does not exist without the DDIs. These results are relevant in the connection to emerging experimental techniques enabling real-time imaging of the condensate dynamics and direct experimental measurement of phonon dispersion relations in BECs.

Mixing dipolar condensates: a new opportunity for enhancing superfluid pairing in a spin-polarized Fermi gas

The recent experimental progress in realizing Bose-Fermi mixtures and dipolar quantum gases has created the exciting possibility of creating dipolar Bose-Fermi mixtures with intriguing and unique properties. In a dipolar condensate, the dipole-dipole interaction represents a control knob inaccessible to nondipolar Bosons. Thus, mixing dipolar bosons with fermions may open up new possibilities for creating superfluids with unconventional pairings. We consider a mixture of a spin-polarized Fermi gas and a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate in a three-dimensional setting in which s-wave scattering between fermions and the quasiparticles of the dipolar condensate can result in an effective attractive Fermi-Fermi interaction anisotropic in nature and tunable by the dipolar interaction. We develop a procedure which allows us to determine the parameters such as densities and scattering lengths that are required to achieve optimal critical temperature before the system starts to phase separate. We perform a systematic investigation, finding that a superfluid with a critical temperature, that is orders of magnitude higher than achievable in nondipolar mixtures, can be realized in dipolar mixtures at experimentally accessible densities and scattering lengths before the system phase separates.

Induced delocalization by correlation and interaction in the one-dimensional Anderson model

We consider long-range correlated disorder and mutual interacting particles according to a dipole-dipole coupling as modifications to the one-dimensional Anderson model. Technically we rely on the (numerical) exact diagonalization of the system's Hamilitonian. From the perspective of different localization measures we confirm and extend the picture of the emergence of delocalized states with increasing correlations. Beside these studies a definition for multi-particle localization is proposed. In the case of two interacting bosons we observe a sensitivity of localization with respect to the range of the particle-particle interaction and insensitivity to the coupling's sign, which should stimulate new theoretical approaches and experimental investigations with e.g. dipolar cold quantum gases. This revised manuscript is much more explicit compared to the initial version of the paper. Major extensions have been applied to Sects. II and III where we updated and added figures and we more extensively compared our results to the literature. Furthermore, Sect. III additionally contains a phenomenological line of reasoning that bridges from delocalization by correlation to delocalization by interaction on the basis of the multi-particle Hamilton matrix.

Controlling the quantum stereodynamics of ultracold bimolecular reactions

Chemical reaction rates often depend strongly on stereodynamics, namely the orientation and movement of molecules in three-dimensional space. An ultracold molecular gas, with a temperature below 1 uK, provides a highly unusual regime for chemistry, where polar molecules can easily be oriented using an external electric field and where, moreover, the motion of two colliding molecules is strictly quantized. Recently, atom-exchange reactions were observed in a trapped ultracold gas of KRb molecules. In an external electric field, these exothermic and barrierless bimolecular reactions, KRb+KRb -> K2+Rb2, occur at a rate that rises steeply with increasing dipole moment. Here we show that the quantum stereodynamics of the ultracold collisions can be exploited to suppress the bimolecular chemical reaction rate by nearly two orders of magnitude. We use an optical lattice trap to confine the fermionic polar molecules in a quasi-two-dimensional, pancake-like geometry, with the dipoles oriented along the tight confinement direction. With the combination of sufficiently tight confinement and Fermi statistics of the molecules, two polar molecules can approach each other only in a "side-by-side" collision, where the chemical reaction rate is suppressed by the repulsive dipole-dipole interaction. We show that the suppression of the bimolecular reaction rate requires quantum-state control of both the internal and external degrees of freedom of the molecules. The suppression of chemical reactions for polar molecules in a quasi-two-dimensional trap opens the way for investigation of a dipolar molecular quantum gas. Because of the strong, long-range character of the dipole-dipole interactions, such a gas brings fundamentally new abilities to quantum-gas-based studies of strongly correlated many-body physics, where quantum phase transitions and new states of matter can emerge.

The threshold for the focusing Gross–Pitaevskii equation with trapped dipolar quantum gases

This paper concerns the threshold of global existence and finite time blow up of solutions to the time-dependent focusing Gross–Pitaevskii equation describing the Bose–Einstein condensation of trapped dipolar quantum gases. Via a construction of new cross-constrained invariant sets, it is shown that either the corresponding solution globally exists or blows up in finite time according to some appropriate assumptions about the initial datum.

Existence of solitary waves in dipolar quantum gases

We study a nonlinear Schrödinger equation arising in the mean field description of dipolar quantum gases. Under the assumption of sufficiently strong dipolar interactions, the existence of standing waves, and hence solitons, is proved together with some of their properties. This gives a rigorous argument for the possible existence of solitary waves in Bose–Einstein condensates, which originate solely due to the dipolar interaction between the particles.