External Harmonic Trap Research Articles

Investigation of one-dimensional quantum droplets in a temporally perturbed external harmonic trap

Using analytical methods we investigate the formation of quantum droplets in symmetric Bose-Bose mixture confined in temporally mutable parabolic traps. The dynamics of the droplet is observed to be heavily dependent upon dynamic nature of the trap. We demonstrate a mechanism to obtain exact droplet solution even if there are imperfections in the dynamic trap, provided the imperfections are of a certain nature. This is done through isospectral Hamiltonian technique of supersymmetric Quantum Mechanics, which also provides an intelligent way to control the dynamics of the quantum droplets through Riccati parameter. This method allows judicious tailoring of the trap frequency which in turn controls the width of the droplet, and quantum droplet can be stretched or squeezed by careful choice of this Riccati parameter. It provides a valuable tool for investigating and adapting to unforeseen variations and deviations encountered in experimental scenarios.

Operator spectrum of nonrelativistic CFTs at large charge

We extend and clarify the large-charge expansion of the conformal dimension $\Delta_Q$ of the lowest operator of charge $Q$ in nonrelativistic CFTs using the state-operator correspondence. The latter requires coupling the theory to an external harmonic trap that confines the particles to a spherical cloud, at the edge of which the effective theory breaks down and leads to divergences. Only recently has this issue been overcome by constructing appropriate counterterms at the edge of the cloud in arXiv:2010.07967. In this note, we extend these results by systematically analyzing the degree of divergence of operators in the effective action and show that there always exist appropriate edge counterterms that make the final contributions to $\Delta_Q$ finite. On the other side of the correspondence, this also provides new corrections to the Thomas-Fermi approximation of the unitary Fermi gas, and we comment on their relevance for ultracold atom physics.

Overcoming the snaking instability and nucleation of dark solitons in nonlinear Kerr media by spatially inhomogeneous defocusing nonlinearity

Dark solitons, localized nonlinear waves with center notch standing on a stable uniform background, own rich formation and dynamics for physics and applications in diverse fields, and have thus recently attracted many theoretical and experimental studies. Transverse modulational instability is an impeditive factor for dark solitons in multidimensional space, to stabilize them various methods have been proposed. We here take use of a purely nonlinear strategy by introducing quasi-one-dimensional Gaussian like trap, and its combination with the external linear harmonic trap, in the framework of the (2 + 1)-dimensional Gross-Pitaveski/nonlinear Schrödinger equation, to realize the stabilization mechanism of dark-soliton stripes. Variational approximation analytical method, linear-stability analysis and direct perturbed numerical simulations are adopted to carry out the study, and agreement is reached. We demonstrate that the dark-soliton stripes can be stabilized completely, and the associated modulational instability wave number band is reduced greatly. Particularly, in the case of linear harmonic trap, the nucleation of dark solitons, subjected to snaking instability, can be overcome by the nonlinear trap with both defocusing and focusing strengths. The predicted results may be realized in Bose-Einstein condensates and nonlinear optics.

Collective dipole oscillations in a bosonic ladder lattice with effective magnetic flux

In this work we study the model of flux lattice, specifically a two-leg Bose–Hubbard ladder lattice subject to effective magnetic flux, which can be implemented using spin–orbit coupled cold atoms trapped in an optical lattice. This model has attracted much recent research interest due to that it provides a platform to study the interplay between artificial gauge fields and interactions. We consider that collective dipole oscillations are activated in this model via quenching an external harmonic trapping potential and show that this system can exhibit unique dynamical behaviors in terms that oscillation amplitude and period critically dependent on the spin–orbit coupling. A dynamical slowing down in collective dipole oscillations will take place near the transition point between the Meissner superfuild and vortex superfluid phases, which agrees quantitatively with a variational analysis. We show that such a quantum phase transition can also be probed via the damping of the collective dipole oscillation. When the quenching displacement is large, the collective center-of-mass motion behaves as damped oscillation and the damping reaches its maximum near the phase transition point. The specific dynamical phenomena are explained with eigenspectra and level populations after the quenching. In the presence of interactions, the time-dependent density–matrix renormalization group (tDMRG) method is hired to study the collective dynamics. The case with weak interactions is similar to that without interactions, except that interactions tend to enhance damping. In addition to that, Bragg reflection can be observed when the quenching displacement exceeds a critical value. The case with strong interactions is also studied, in which case the phase transition points will be dramatically changed and the system can even move into the Mott insulator phase, which will greatly affect the corresponding collective dynamics. The phenomena predicted in this work can be readily observed in current available experiments on atom flux lattices.

Modulational instability and soliton control in a cubic–quintic dissipative Gross–Pitaevskii equation with distributed coefficients* *The first author, EK dedicates this work to the memory of his Father-in-law, His Majesty Sado Jean Le Prince, Deceased on the June 2nd, 2020

In this work, we consider the generalized cubic–quintic dissipative Gross–Pitaevskii equation, which governs the dynamics of matter wave solitons in Bose–Einstein condensates with two- and three-body interatomic interactions in a spatiotemporal-dependent dissipative potential consisting of parabolic, linear, and complex terms. By using the ansatz method, the modulational instability and gray, kink, and bright soliton solutions are presented under certain parametric conditions. We found that the complex potential, related to the feeding or the loss of atoms by the condensates seriously modifies the instability and stability domain, while the linear potential has not effect on the stability of the system. With the use of exact analytical soliton-like solutions, we investigate analytically the solitons control system, and the results show that the soliton control system may relax the limitations to parametric conditions. We found that the motion of matter wave solitons in the systems can be manipulated by controlling both the external harmonic and linear trapping potentials. We have established that the amplitude of the matter wave solitons keep no change in propagating in the system though the total number of the condensate atoms decreases (increases) when the condensate losses (gains) atoms. We also showed that the three-body interatomic interactions is responsible of the soliton compression. Our results also revealed that the found exact soliton-like solutions can be used to describe the compression of matter wave solitons in BEC system with loss of atoms.

Monopole dynamics of Bose–Fermi mixtures in a three-dimensional optical lattice on a harmonic trap

Motivated by recent developments in experimental studies of Bose–Fermi mixtures, we investigate monopole oscillation dynamics of Bose–Fermi mixtures in a three-dimensional (3D) optical lattice and an external isotropic harmonic trap potential. We use dynamical Gutzwiller approximation and calculate time dependence of the average spatial extent of particles in a coexisting phase where superfluid bosons and metal fermions coexist. With the trap potential, the bosons concentrate at and around the center of the potential and the fermions surround the bosons. They begin to demonstrate monopole oscillations when the trap potentials are suddenly changed to the ones with smaller curvature. In particular, the correlation between the oscillations of the bosons and fermions is different depending on the condition of the initial confinement. We also show the case where only one of the two trap potentials is changed.

Relaxation of Shannon entropy for trapped interacting bosons with dipolar interactions

We study the quantum many-body dynamics and entropy production triggered by an interaction quench of few dipolar bosons in an external harmonic trap. We solve the time-dependent many-body Schrödinger equation by using an in-principle numerically exact many-body method called the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method for bosons (MCTDHB). We study the dynamical measures with high level of accuracy. We monitor the time evolution of the occupation in the natural orbitals and normalized first- and second-order Glauber’s correlation functions. In particular, we focus on the relaxation dynamics of the Shannon entropy. Comparison with the corresponding results for contact interactions is presented. We observe significant effects coming from the presence of the non-local part of the dipolar interaction. The relaxation process is very fast for dipolar bosons with a clear signature of a truly saturated maximum entropy state. We also discuss the connection between the entropy production and the occurrence of correlations and loss of coherence in the system. We identify the long-time relaxed state as a many-body state retaining only diagonal correlations in the first-order correlation function and building up anti-bunching effect in the second-order correlation function.

Bose–Einstein condensates in an eightfold symmetric optical lattice**Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11434011, 11522436, and 11774425), the National Key R&D Program of China (Grants No. 2018YFA0306501), the Beijing Natural Science Foundation, China (Grant No. Z180013), and the Research Funds of Renmin University of China (Grants Nos. 16XNLQ03 and 18XNLQ15).

We investigate the properties of Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) in a two-dimensional quasi-periodic optical lattice (OL) with eightfold rotational symmetry by numerically solving the Gross–Pitaevskii equation. In a stationary external harmonic trapping potential, we first analyze the evolution of matter-wave interference pattern from periodic to quasi-periodic as the OL is changed continuously from four-fold periodic to eight-fold quasi-periodic. We also investigate the transport properties during this evolution for different interatomic interaction and lattice depth, and find that the BEC crosses over from ballistic diffusion to localization. Finally, we focus on the case of eightfold symmetric lattice and consider a global rotation imposed by the external trapping potential. The BEC shows vortex pattern with eightfold symmetry for slow rotation, becomes unstable for intermediate rotation, and exhibits annular solitons with approximate axial symmetry for fast rotation. These results can be readily demonstrated in experiments using the same configuration as in Phys. Rev. Lett. 122 110404 (2019).

Ultrashort nonautonomous similariton solutions and the cascade tunneling of interacting similaritons

Similarity transformation and Hirota bilinearization are deployed to derive exact bright and dark ultrashort one- and two-similariton solutions of a nonautonomous cubic–quintic nonlinear Schrödinger equation. Such wave packets may emerge when group-velocity dispersion and cubic–quintic self-phase modulations are balanced by Raman self-frequency shift in the presence of an external harmonic trap and linear gain or loss. The solutions presented here can be used to investigate the compression, amplification and interaction phenomena associated with bright and dark similaritons in inhomogeneous fiber systems. Furthermore, the dynamics of the characteristic parameters of the similaritons are studied analytically, and similariton stability in a distributed system is tested through extensive computations. As an example application, the tunneling behavior of bright and dark similaritons through cascade dispersion barriers and dispersion wells on an exponential background is investigated, and some interesting novel features are uncovered which are expected to facilitate the control of bright and dark ultrashort similariton in experimental scenarios.

Enhanced Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov and Sarma superfluid states near an orbital Feshbach resonance

We investigate the inhomogeneous Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov (FFLO) and homogeneous Sarma superfluid states in alkaline-earth-like $^{173}$Yb atomic gases near an orbital Feshbach resonance at zero temperature with population imbalances in both the open and closed channels (or bands). We find that in homogeneous space by adjusting the open-channel Zeeman energy $h_o$, both the Sarma and Fulde-Ferrell superfluid states are greatly enhanced by the spin-exchange interaction while the closed-channel Zeeman energy $h_c$ remains small. In the presence of an external harmonic trap, the trapped gas features a shell structure of separated phases, where the Sarma phase leaves detectable valley structure in the columnar-integrated momentum distribution, and the Fulde-Ferrell state acquires enhanced spatial anisotropy. As both signatures can be easily detected in time-of-flight images, our findings are helpful to realize and detect the long-sought FFLO and Sarma superfluid states at the same time in experiments.

Asymmetric solitary vortex evolution in two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate in harmonic trap

We studied the evolution of an asymmetric solitary vortex in a two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate starting from a quasi-one dimensional state with external harmonic trapping potential modulation. We derived the analytical solution of the asymmetric solitary vortex based on the two-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation model and variational method. Furthermore, we identified the oscillation mode between the extreme asymmetric state and circular symmetric state for the derived solitary vortex. The obtained theoretical results can be used as guides for relevant experimental studies of asymmetric solitary vortices under similar physical conditions.

Local manipulation of quantum magnetism in one-dimensional ultracold Fermi gases across narrow resonances

Effective range is a quantity to characterize the energy dependence in two-body scattering strength, and is widely used in cold atomic systems especially across narrow resonances. Here we show that the effective range can significantly modify the magnetic property of one-dimensional (1D) spin-$1/2$ fermions in the strongly repulsive regime. In particular, the effective range breaks the large spin degeneracy in the hard-core limit, and induces a Heisenberg exchange term in the spin chain that is much more sensitive to the local density than that induced by the bare coupling. With an external harmonic trap, this leads to a very rich magnetic pattern where the anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) and ferromagnetic (FM) correlations can coexist and distribute in highly tunable regions across the trap. Finally, we propose to detect the range-induced magnetic order in the tunneling experiment. Our results can be directly tested in 1D Fermi gases across narrow resonance, and suggest a convenient route towards the local manipulation of quantum magnetism in cold atoms.

One-dimensional spin-orbit coupling Bose gases with harmonic trapping

Rabi model is a popular model in quantum optics and describes a two-level system coupling to a quantum resonator. The fruitful physics appears when the coupling strength is comparable to the frequency of the resonator. We investigate the Bose gases of Raman induced spin-orbit coupling with an external harmonic trapping. Using the displacement Fock state in quantum optics we seek for an approximate ground state. We find the superposition state of left and right displaced oscillator state with odd parity has lower energy than the displaced state itself. Besides, we study the time evolution of both the momentum and the position of the system at single particle level to demonstrate the Zitterbewegung oscillating characteristics, which present an intuitive physical picture and are in qualitative agreement with the relevant experimental results. The results are useful to study the Rabi model in deep-strong coupling regime, the model that is difficult to realize in today’s experiment based on the high controllability property of laser, and these results are also instructive for the cold atom physics field.

Dynamic hysteresis from bistability in an antiferromagnetic spinor condensate

We study the emergence of hysteresis during the process of quantum phase transition from an antiferromagnetic to a phase-separated state in a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate of ultracold atoms. We explicitly demonstrate the appearance of a hysteresis loop with various quench times, showing that it is rate independent for large magnetizations only. In other cases, scaling of the hysteresis loop area is observed, which we explain by using the Kibble-Zurek theory in the limit of small magnetization. The effect of an external harmonic trapping potential is also discussed.

Observation of Dynamical Super-Efimovian Expansion in a Unitary Fermi Gas.

We report an observation of a dynamical super Efimovian expansion in a strongly interacting Fermi gas by engineering time dependent external harmonic trap frequencies. When the trap frequency is tailored as [1/4t^{2}+1/t^{2}λlog^{2}(t/t_{*})]^{1/2}, where t_{*} and λ are two controllable parameters, and the change is faster than a critical value, the expansion of such a quantum gas shows novel dynamics that share the same characteristics as the super Efimov effect. A clear double-log periodicity with discrete geometric scaling emerges for the cloud size in the expansion. The universality of such scaling dynamics is verified both in the noninteracting and in the unitarity limit of Fermi gas. Moreover, the measured energy scaling reveals that the potential and internal energy also show double-log periodicity with a π/2 phase difference, but the total energy is monotonically decreased. Observing super Efimovian evolution represents a paradigm in probing universal properties and allows us in a new way to study many-body nonequilibrium dynamics with experiments.

Spin–orbit-coupling induced localization in the expansion of an interacting Bose–Einstein condensate

By developing a hydrodynamic formalism, we investigate the expansion dynamics of the single-minimum phase of a binary spin–orbit coupled Bose–Einstein condensate, after releasing from an external harmonic trap. We find that the expansion of the condensate along the direction of the spin–orbit coupling is dramatically slowed down near the transition between the single-minimum phase and the plane-wave phase. Such a slow expansion, resembling a form of an effective localization, is due to the quenching of the superfluid motion which results in a strong increase of the effective mass. In the single-minimum phase the anisotropic expansion of the Bose gas, which is spin balanced at equilibrium, is accompanied by the emergence of a local spin polarization. Our analytic scaling solutions emerging from hydrodynamic picture are compared with a full numerical simulation based on the coupled Gross–Pitaevskii equations.

Steady-state entanglement in levitated optomechanical systems coupled to a higher order excited atomic ensemble

We investigate the steady-state entanglement in an optomechanical system with a levitated dielectric nanosphere and a higher order excited atomic ensemble. The single nanosphere is trapped by an external harmonic dipole trap and coupled to the single-mode cavity field by the effective optomechanical coupling, which depends on the steady-state position of the nanosphere. We show that the steady-state optomechanical entanglement can be generated via the effective optomechanical interaction between the mechanical motion and the cavity mode. Further, these exist an optimal effective cavity detuning that maximizes the optomechanical entanglement. We also analyze in detail the influences of the excitation number of atoms, the radius of the nanosphere and the thermal noise strength on the steady-state optomechanical entanglement. It is found that the steady-state entanglement can be enhanced by increasing the excitation number of atoms and the radius of the nanosphere.

Nonadiabatic quantum phase transition in a trapped spinor condensate

We study the effect of an external harmonic trapping potential on an outcome of the non-adiabatic quantum phase transition from an antiferromagnetic to a phase-separated state in a spin-1 atomic condensate. Previously, we demonstrated that the dynamics of an untrapped system exhibits double universality with two different scaling laws appearing due to conservation of magnetization. We show that in the presence of a trap double universality persists. However, the corresponding scaling exponents are strongly modified by transfer of local magnetization across the system. The values of these exponents cannot be explained by the effect of causality alone, as in the spinless case. We derive the appropriate scaling laws based on a slow diffusive-drift relaxation process in the local density approximation.

Quantum Hall effect in momentum space

We theoretically discuss a momentum-space analog of the quantum Hall effect, which could be observed in topologically nontrivial lattice models subject to an external harmonic trapping potential. In our proposal, the Niu-Thouless-Wu formulation of the quantum Hall effect on a torus is realized in the toroidally shaped Brillouin zone. In this analogy, the position of the trap center in real space controls the magnetic fluxes that are inserted through the holes of the torus in momentum space. We illustrate the momentum-space quantum Hall effect with the noninteracting trapped Harper-Hofstadter model, for which we numerically demonstrate how this effect manifests itself in experimental observables. Extension to the interacting trapped Harper-Hofstadter model is also briefly considered. We finally discuss possible experimental platforms where our proposal for the momentum-space quantum Hall effect could be realized.

Long-time averaged dynamics of a Bose–Einstein condensate in a bichromatic optical lattice with external harmonic confinement

The dynamics of a Bose–Einstein condensate are examined numerically in the presence of a one-dimensional bichromatic optical lattice (BCOL) with external harmonic confinement in the strongly interacting regime. The condensate is excited by a focusing stirring red laser. Two realizations of the BCOL are considered, one with a rational and the other with an irrational ratio of the two constituting wave lengths. The system is simulated by the time-dependent Gross Pitaevskii equation that is solved using the Crank Nicolson method in real time. It is found that for a weak BCOL, the long-time averaged physical observables of the condensate respond only very weakly (or not at all) to changes in the secondary OL depth V1 showing that under these conditions the harmonic trap plays a dominant role in governing the dynamics. However, for a much larger strength of the BCOL, the response is stronger as it begins to compete with the external harmonic trap, such that the frequency of Bloch oscillations of the bosons rises with V1 yielding higher time-averages. Qualitatively there is no difference between the dynamics of the condensate resulting from the use of a rational or irrational ratio of the wavelengths since the external harmonic trap washes it out. It is further found that in the presence of an external harmonic trap, the BCOL acts in favor of superflow.