Bose–Einstein condensation of a relativistic Bose gas in a harmonic potential

Using semiclassical method, Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) of a relativistic ideal Bose gas (RIBG) with and without antibosons in the three-dimensional (3D) harmonic potential is investigated. Analytical expressions for the BEC transition temperature, condensate fraction, specific heat and entropy of the system are obtained. Relativistic effects on the properties of the system are discussed and it is found that the relativistic effect decreases the transition temperature T_c but enlarges the gap of specific heat at T_c. We also study the influence of antibosons on a RIBG. Comparing with the system without antibosons, the system with antibosons has a higher transition temperature and a lower Helmholtz free energy. It implies that the system with antibosons is more stable.     

Bose–Einstein condensation of atomic hydrogen

The recent creation of a Bose–Einstein condensate of atomic hydrogen has added a new system to this exciting field. The differences between hydrogen and the alkali metal atoms require other techniques for the initial trapping and cooling of the atoms and the subsequent detection of the condensate. The use of a cryogenic loading technique results in a larger number of trapped atoms. Spectroscopic detection is well suited to measuring the temperature and density of the sample in situ. The transition was observed at a temperature of 50 μK and a density of 2×10¹⁴ cm^-3. The number of condensed atoms is about 10⁹ at a condensate fraction of a few percent. A peak condensate density of 4.8×10¹⁵ cm^-3 has been observed. Received: 22 June 1999 / Published online: 3 November 1999     

Photon condensation: A new paradigm for Bose–Einstein condensation

Bose–Einstein condensation is a state of matter known to be responsible for peculiar properties exhibited by superfluid Helium-4 and superconductors. Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) in its pure form is realizable with alkali atoms under ultra-cold temperatures. In this paper, we review the experimental scheme that demonstrates the atomic Bose–Einstein condensate. We also elaborate on the theoretical framework for atomic Bose–Einstein condensation, which includes statistical mechanics and the Gross–Pitaevskii equation. As an extension, we discuss Bose–Einstein condensation of photons realized in a fluorescent dye filled optical microcavity. We analyze this phenomenon based on the generalized Planck’s law in statistical mechanics. Further, a comparison is made between photon condensate and laser. We describe how photon condensate may be a possible alternative for lasers since it does not require an energy consuming population inversion process.     

Dynamics of Bose–Einstein condensate in a harmonic potential and a Gaussian energy barrier

We have studied the dynamics of Bose–Einstein condensate by solving numerically the Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation. We examined the periodic behaviour of the condensate in a shifted harmonic potential, and further demonstrated the tunneling effect of a condensate through a Gaussian energy barrier, which is inserted after the condensate has been excited by shifting the harmonic trapping potential to a side. Moreover, it is shown that the initial condensate evolves dynamically into two separate moving condensates after the tunneling time under certain conditions.     

Bose–Einstein condensation in random potentials

We present a rigorous study of the perfect Bose-gas in the presence of a homogeneous ergodic random potential. It is demonstrated that the Lifshitz tail behaviour of the one-particle spectrum reduces the critical dimensionality of the (generalized) Bose–Einstein Condensation (BEC) to d=1. To tackle the Off-Diagonal Long-Range Order (ODLRO) we introduce the space average one-body reduced density matrix. For a one-dimensional Poisson-type random potential we prove that randomness enhances the exponential decay of this matrix in domain free of the BEC. To cite this article: O. Lenoble et al., C. R. Physique 5 (2004).     

Bose–Einstein condensation and superfluidity in trapped atomic gases

Bose–Einstein condensates confined in traps exhibit unique features which have been the object of extensive experimental and theoretical studies in the last few years. In this paper I will discuss some issues concerning the behaviour of the order parameter and the dynamic and superfluid effects exhibited by such systems.     

Bose–Einstein condensation of magnons in ferromagnetic thin films

Experimental evidence for Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) of magnons at room temperature in a thin film of yttrium iron garnet (YIG) excited by parallel pumping is already available and different features of the experimental results have been explained qualitatively [Nature 443, 430 (2006)]. In the present work, we explain quantitatively different aspects of this experimental observation through spin wave treatment. In the case of parallel pumping field, we have developed a formula for the time required for the formation of magnon BEC in a thin film of ferromagnetic material. This relation is found to be in good agreement with known experimental results. In a similar treatment we predict the condition for the formation of BEC of magnons in the case of perpendicular pumping.     

Vortices in a rotating two-component Bose–Einstein condensate with tunable interactions and harmonic potential

We consider a pair of coupled nonlinear Schrödinger equations modeling a rotating two-component Bose–Einstein condensate with tunable interactions and harmonic potential, with emphasis on the structure of vortex states by varying the strength of inter-component interaction, rotational frequency, and the aspect ratio of the harmonic potential. Our results show that the inter-component interaction greatly enhances the effect of rotation. For the case of isotropic harmonic potential and small inter-component interaction, the initial vortex structure remains unchanged. As the ratio of inter- to intra-component interactions increases, each component undergoes a transition from a vortex lattice (vortex line) in an isotropic (anisotropic) harmonic potential to an alternatively arranged stripe pattern, and eventually to the interwoven “serpentine” vortex sheets. Moreover, in the case of anisotropic harmonic potential the system can develop to a rotating droplet structure.     

Laser cooling and trapping of metastable helium: towards Bose–Einstein condensation

Metastable triplet helium is an interesting atom, next to the alkalis and atomic hydrogen, to pursue Bose–Einstein condensation. In this paper an overview of the relevant physics of triplet helium and experimental progress in Amsterdam towards reaching Bose–Einstein condensation is described.     

Quantum degeneracy and Bose–Einstein condensation in low-dimensional trapped gases

At present, there are significant efforts to create 2D or 1D trapped gases by (tightly) confining the particle motion to zero point oscillations in one or two directions. The goal of this article is to show that the reduction of the spatial dimensionality in trapped Bose gases drastically changes the nature of the Bose-condensed state. In 2D and 1D gases, one can get a peculiar Bose-condensed state (quasicondensate) where the density fluctuations are suppressed, but the phase still fluctuates. The quasicondensate has the same density profile and local correlation properties as true condensates. However, it is very different with regard to phase coherence properties. We discuss how the phase coherence can be studied in experiments with 2D and 1D trapped gases.     

Non-autonomous matter-wave solitons in hybrid atomic–molecular Bose–Einstein condensates with tunable interactions and harmonic potential

In this paper, we investigate matter-wave solitons in hybrid atomic–molecular Bose–Einstein condensates with tunable interactions and external potentials. Three types of time-modulated harmonic potentials are considered and, for each of them, two groups of exact non-autonomous matter-wave soliton solutions of the coupled Gross–Pitaevskii equation are presented. Novel nonlinear structures of these non-autonomous matter-wave solitons are analyzed by displaying their density distributions. It is shown that the time-modulated nonlinearities and external potentials can support exact non-autonomous atomic–molecular matter-wave solitons.     

Theory of atomic–molecular conversion under the conditions of Bose–Einstein condensation

A set of nonlinear differential equations that describe the dynamics of atomic–molecular conversion under the action of two arbitrarily shaped Raman pulses of resonance laser radiation has been derived in the mean-field approximation. The dynamics of the system subjected to Gaussian pulses has been studied in detail. It has been shown that the time evolution of the system depends on the initial conditions.     

The ground states and pseudospin textures of rotating two-component Bose–Einstein condensates trapped in harmonic plus quartic potential

The ground states of two-component miscible Bose–Einstein condensates(BECs) confined in a rotating annular trap are obtained by using the Thomas–Fermi(TF) approximation method.The ground state density distribution of the condensates experiences a transition from a disc shape to an annulus shape either when the angular frequency increases and the width and the center height of the trap are fixed,or when the width and the center height of the trap increase and the angular frequency is fixed.Meantime the numerical solutions of the ground states of the trapped two-component miscible BECs with the same condition are obtained by using imaginary-time propagation method.They are in good agreement with the solutions obtained by the TF approximation method.The ground states of the trapped two-component immiscible BECs are also given by using the imaginary-time propagation method.Furthermore,by introducing a normalized complex-valued spinor,three kinds of pseudospin textures of the BECs,i.e.,giant skyrmion,coaxial double-annulus skyrmion,and coaxial three-annulus skyrmion,are found.     

Bound diquarks and their Bose–Einstein condensation in strongly coupled quark matter

We explore the formation of diquark bound states and their Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) in the phase diagram of three-flavor quark matter at nonzero temperature, T, and quark chemical potential, μ  . Using a quark model with a four-fermion interaction, we identify diquark excitations as poles of the microscopically computed diquark propagator. The quark masses are obtained by solving a dynamical equation for the chiral condensate and are found to determine the stability of the diquark excitations. The stability of diquark excitations is investigated in the T–μ$T\text{–}\mu$ plane for different values of the diquark coupling strength. We find that diquark bound states appear at small quark chemical potentials and at intermediate coupling strengths. Bose–Einstein condensation of non-strange diquark states occurs when the attractive interaction between quarks is sufficiently strong.     

Ground-state vortex structures of a rotating binary dipolar Bose–Einstein condensate confined in harmonic plus quartic potential

We consider a binary dipolar Bose–Einstein condensate confined in a rotating harmonic plus quartic potential trap.The ground-state vortex structures are numerically obtained as a function of the contact interactions and the dipole–dipole interaction in both slow and rapid rotation cases. The results show that the vortex configurations depend strongly on the strength of the contact interactions, the relative strength between dipolar and contact interactions, as well as on the orientation of the dipoles. A variety of exotic ground-state vortex structures, such as pentagonal and hexagon vortex lattice,square vortex lattice with a central vortex, annular vortex lines, and straight vortex lines, are observed by turning such controllable parameters. Our results deepen the understanding of effects of dipole–dipole interaction on the topological defects.     

Fundamentals and New Frontiers of Bose–Einstein Condensation

A vehicle skids whenever the friction between tyre and road is insufficient to meet the demands of the driver in accelerating, braking, or cornering. In wet weather, when the water film on the road acts as a lubricant, the friction between tyre and road may be greatly reduced. The magnitude of the friction between a tyre and a wet road depends on the physical characteristics of both the road surface and the tyre.

Recent work has shown that when well-lubricated rubber slides over a hard surface, as in the case of a tyre on a wet road, a large part of the frictional resistance may arise from energy losses in the rubber as it is deformed by projections in the hard surface and then recovers. These are the so-called hysteresis losses. Evidence suggests that if the associated practical problems can be solved very worthwhile improvements in skidding friction may be obtained by the use of tyres in which the rubber of the tread has much higher hysteresis losses than the normal tyre tread rubber.     

On Bose–Einstein condensation in Josephson junctions star graph arrays

We report on the evidence of anomalous currents in graph-shaped arrays of Josephson junctions along peculiar branches of the networks. The specific case of a star-shaped array is considered and the evidence of the anomalies is achieved by comparing the current-voltage characteristics of the arrays embedded in the star structure with those of “reference” arrays which are fabricated by-side the network structure and are dc-isolated from these. The experimental data are consistent with the results of a theoretical model predicting gradients of the populations of Cooper pairs on the islands situated in proximity of the central superconductive island as a result of a Bose–Einstein condensation process.     

Polaron in an electron–exciton structure under the conditions of the Bose–Einstein condensation

A polaron state of an electron in a hybrid system composed of a two-dimensional electron gas and a Bose–Einstein condensate of excitons situated in a quantum well coplanar with the electron gas has been investigated. It has been shown that self-localization is possible even at a weak coupling between the components of the structure, when a fluctuation of the density of excitons producing a potential well for the electron is small compared to their average density.     

Stability of Attractive Bose–Einstein Condensates

We propose the critical nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a harmonic potential as a model of attractive Bose–Einstein condensates. By an elaborate mathematical analysis we show that a sharp stability threshold exists with respect to the number of condensate particles. The value of the threshold agrees with the existing experimental data. Moreover with this threshold we prove that a ground state of the condensate exists and is orbital stable. We also evaluate the minimum of the condensate energy.