Measurement of the normal-fluid velocity in superfluids

Numerical calculations of (finite temperature) superfluid vortex ring propagation against a particulate sheet show that the solid particle trajectories collapse to a very good approximation to the normal-fluid path lines. We propose an experiment in which, by measuring the solid particles' velocities, direct information about the instantaneous normal-fluid velocity values could be obtained.     

Mutual-friction induced instability of normal-fluid vortex tubes in superfluid helium-4

It is shown that, as a result of its interactions with superfluid vorticity, a normal-fluid vortex tube in helium-4 becomes unstable and disintegrates. The superfluid vorticity acquires only a small (few percents of normal-fluid tube strength) polarization, whilst expanding in a front-like manner in the intervortex space of the normal-fluid, forming a dense, unstructured tangle in the process. The accompanied energy spectra scalings offer a structural explanation of analogous scalings in fully developed finite-temperature superfluid turbulence. A macroscopic mutual-friction model incorporating these findings is proposed.     

Fractal dimension of superfluid turbulence

Superfluid turbulence consists of a disordered tangle of quantized vortex filaments which interact with each other and with the normal fluid. We develop a kinematic model of normal-fluid turbulence to study superfluid vortex tangles at finite temperatures and show by numerical simulation that the system of filaments has a fractal dimension larger than one. We find that the fractal dimension is directly related to the vortex-line density and is independent of temperature over a wide range.     

Fluctuations and Correlations of Pure Quantum Turbulence in Superfluid 3He-B

We describe the first measurements of line-density fluctuations and spatial correlations of quantum turbulence in superfluid 3He-B. All of the measurements are performed in the low-temperature regime, where the normal-fluid density is negligible. The quantum turbulence is generated by a vibrating grid. The vortex-line density is found to have large length-scale correlations, indicating large-scale collective motion of vortices. Furthermore, we find that the power spectrum of fluctuations versus frequency obeys a -5/3 power law which verifies recent speculations that this behavior is a generic feature of fully developed quantum turbulence, reminiscent of the Kolmogorov spectrum for velocity fluctuations in classical turbulence.     

Superfluid bosons and flux liquids: disorder,thermal fluctuations,and finite-size effects

The influence of different types of disorder (both uncorrelated and correlated) on the superfluid properties of a weakly interacting or dilute Bose gas, as well as on the corresponding quantities for flux line liquids in high-temperature superconductors at low magnetic fields are reviewed, investigated and compared. We exploit the formal analogy between superfluid bosons and the statistical mechanics of directed lines, and explore the influence of the different “imaginary time” boundary conditions appropriate for a flux line liquid. For superfluids, we discuss the density and momentum correlations, the condensate fraction, and the normal-fluid density as function of temperature for two- and three-dimensional systems subject to a space- and time-dependent random potential as well as conventional point-, line-, and plane-like defects. In the case of vortex liquids subject to point disorder, twin boundaries, screw dislocations, and various configurations of columnar damage tracks, we calculate the corresponding quantities, namely, density and tilt correlations, the “boson” order parameter, and the tilt modulus. The finite-size corrections due to periodic vs. open “imaginary time” boundary conditions differ in interesting and important ways. Experimental implications for vortex lines are described briefly.     

On the dynamics of superfluid vorticity in non-dissipative processes

We investigate the consequences of the possible existence of superfluid vorticity on the Landau two-fluid equations. Assuming a conservation law for superfluid circulation, we show that in non-dissipative situations, the superfluid vorticity is swept along by the normal fluid.     

Probing superfluidity of periodically trapped ultracold atoms in a cavity by transmission spectroscopy

We study a system of periodic Bose-condensed atoms coupled to cavity photons using the input-output formalism of [14]. We show for the first time that the cavity will either act as a through-pass Lorentzian filter when the superfluid fraction of the condensate is minimum, or completely reflect the input field when the superfluid fraction is maximum. We show that by monitoring the ratio between the transmitted field and the reflected field, one can estimate the superfluid fraction.     

Superfluid density in a two-dimensional model of supersolid

We study in 2-dimensions the superfluid density of periodically modulated states in the framework of the mean-field Gross-Pitaevskiǐ model of a quantum solid. We obtain a full agreement for the superfluid fraction between a semi-theoretical approach and direct numerical simulations. As in 1-dimension, the superfluid density decreases exponentially with the amplitude of the particle interaction. We discuss the case when defects are present in this modulated structure. In the case of isolated defects (e.g. dislocations) the superfluid density only shows small changes. Finally, we report an increase of the superfluid fraction up to 50% in the case of extended macroscopical defects. We show also that this excess of superfluid fraction depends on the length of the complex network of grain boundaries in the system.     

BCS-BEC crossover and topological phase transition in 3D spin-orbit coupled degenerate Fermi gases

We investigate the BCS-BEC crossover in three-dimensional degenerate Fermi gases in the presence of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and Zeeman field. We show that the superfluid order parameter destroyed by a large Zeeman field can be restored by the SOC. With increasing strengths of the Zeeman field, there is a series of topological quantum phase transitions from a nontopological superfluid state with fully gapped fermionic spectrum to a topological superfluid state with four topologically protected Fermi points (i.e., nodes in the quasiparticle excitation gap) and then to a second topological superfluid state with only two Fermi points. The quasiparticle excitations near the Fermi points realize the long-sought low-temperature analog of Weyl fermions of particle physics. We show that the topological phase transitions can be probed using the experimentally realized momentum-resolved photoemission spectroscopy.     

Energy spectra of quantum turbulence in He II and 3He-B: A unified view

Quantum turbulence in superfluid He II and in ³He-B that can be regarded as nearly isothermal, isotropic, and homogeneous is discussed within the two-fluid model. A general form of the 3D energy spectrum is proposed: at large length scales, where normal and superfluid eddies are locked together by the mutual friction force, the energy spectrum is essentially classical and includes an inertial range of a Kolmogorov K62 form. With increasing wavenumber k, the normal fluid part of the spectrum terminates due to finite viscosity, while the superfluid part of the spectral energy density changes towards k ⁻³ and then back into Kolmogorov-like k ^−5/3 again. Agreement with computer simulations and experiments is claimed if account is taken of the turbulent box size and of the energy decay rate. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

Excitations in correlated superfluids near a continuous transition into a supersolid

We study a superfluid on a lattice close to a transition into a supersolid phase and show that a uniform superflow in the homogeneous superfluid can drive the roton gap to zero. This leads to supersolid order around the vortex core in the superfluid, with the size of the modulated pattern around the core being related to the bulk superfluid density and roton gap. We also study the electronic tunneling density of states for a uniform superconductor near a phase transition into a supersolid phase. Implications are considered for strongly correlated superconductors.     

Superfluid 4He quantum interference grating

We report the first observation of quantum interference from a grating structure consisting of four weak link junctions in superfluid 4He. We find that an interference grating can be implemented successfully in a superfluid matter wave interferometer to enhance its sensitivity while trading away some of its dynamic range. We also show that this type of device can be used to measure absolute quantum mechanical phase differences. The results demonstrate the robust nature of superfluid phase coherence arising from quantum mechanics on a macroscopic scale.     

Nanoscale molecular superfluidity of hydrogen

We present a microscopic quantum theoretical analysis of the nanoscale superfluid properties of solvating clusters of para-H2 around the linear OCS molecule. Path-integral calculations with N=17 para-H2 molecules, constituting a full solvation shell, show the appearance of a significant superfluid response to rotation around the molecular axis at T=0.15 K. This low-temperature superfluid response is highly anisotropic and drops sharply as the temperature increases to T approximately 0.3 K. These calculations provide definitive theoretical evidence that an anisotropic superfluid state exists for molecular hydrogen in this microscopic solvation layer.     

Casimir-like force arising from quantum fluctuations in a slowly moving dilute Bose-Einstein condensate

We calculate a force due to zero-temperature quantum fluctuations on a stationary object in a moving superfluid flow. We model the object by a localized potential varying only in the flow direction and model the flow by a three-dimensional weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate at zero temperature. We show that this force exists for any arbitrarily small flow velocity and discuss the implications for the stability of superfluid flow.     

Quasi-two-dimensional superfluid fermionic gases

We study a quasi-two-dimensional superfluid Fermi gas where the confinement in the third direction is due to a strong harmonic trapping. We investigate the behavior of such a system when the chemical potential is varied and find strong modifications of the superfluid properties due to the discrete harmonic oscillator states. We show that such quasi-two-dimensional behavior can be created and observed with current experimental capabilities.     

Dynamical vanishing of the order parameter in a fermionic condensate

We analyze the dynamics of a condensate of ultracold atomic fermions following an abrupt change of the pairing strength. At long times, the system goes to a nonstationary steady state, which we determine exactly. The superfluid order parameter asymptotes to a constant value. We show that the order parameter vanishes when the pairing strength is decreased below a certain critical value. In this case, the steady state of the system combines properties of normal and superfluid states -- the gap and the condensate fraction vanish, while the superfluid density is nonzero.     

Probing non-abelian statistics of Majorana fermions in ultracold atomic superfluid

We propose an experiment to directly probe the non-abelian statistics of Majorana fermions by braiding them in an s-wave superfluid of ultracold atoms. We show that different orders of braiding operations give orthogonal output states that can be distinguished through Raman spectroscopy. Realization of Majorana states in an s-wave superfluid requires strong spin-orbital coupling and a controllable Zeeman field in the perpendicular direction. We present a simple laser configuration to generate the artificial spin-orbital coupling and the required Zeeman field in the dark-state subspace.     

Superfluidity of grain boundaries in solid 4He

By large-scale quantum Monte Carlo simulations we show that grain boundaries in 4He crystals are generically superfluid at low temperature, with a transition temperature of the order of approximately 0.5 K at the melting pressure; nonsuperfluid grain boundaries are found only for special orientations of the grains. We also find that close vicinity to the melting line is not a necessary condition for superfluid grain boundaries, and a grain boundary in direct contact with the superfluid liquid at the melting curve is found to be mechanically stable and the grain-boundary superfluidity observed by Sasaki et al. [Science 313, 1098 (2006)10.1126/science.1130879] is not just a crack filled with superfluid.     

Superfluidity of 4He in one and three dimensions realized in nanopores

Superfluidity in one and three dimensions has been studied for 4He fluid films adsorbed in nanopores which are straight channels and three-dimensionally connected pores, respectively. We observed the superfluid in one and three dimensions where thermal phonon wavelengths are much longer than the channel diameter and the period of the pore connection, respectively, and found that the superfluid onset depends on the pore connection. In the straight channels, the observed superfluid density disappears at a temperature far below the heat capacity anomaly of the Ginzburg-Landau transition, while in the pores connected in three dimension, the adsorbed 4He films show an evident three-dimensional transition where the superfluid onset occurs at the heat capacity peak.     

Tunneling and Self-Trapping of Superfluid Fermi Gases in BCS-BEC Crossover

We investigate tunneling and self-trapping of superfluid Fermi gases under a two-mode ansatz in different regimes of the crossover from Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superfluid to Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC). Starting from a generalized equation of state, we derive the coupled equations of relative atom-pair number and relative phase about superfluid Fermi gases in a double-well system and then classify the different oscillation behaviors by the
tunneling strength and interactions between atoms. Tunneling and self-trapping behaviors are considered in the whole BCS-BEC crossover in the case of a symmetric double-well potential. We show that the nonlinear interaction between atoms makes the self-trapping more easily realized in BCS regime than in the BEC regime and stability analysis is also given.