Vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates: A review of the experimental results

Rotating dilute Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) of alkali atoms offer a testing ground for theories of vortices in weakly interacting superfluids. In a rotating super-fluid, quantised vortices, with a vorticity h/m, form above a critical velocity. Such vortices have been generated in BEC of alkali atoms by different techniques such as (a) wave function engineering of a two-component BEC, (b) decay of solitons, (c) rotation of a thermal cloud before cooling it below the condensation temperature, (d) stirring with an ‘optical’ spoon, (e) rotating a deformation in the anisotropic trap in which the condensate is trapped and (f) by creating Berry phase by adiabatically reversing the axial magnetic field. Since the core of a vortex is a fraction of a micrometer in diameter, it cannot be directly imaged optically. The condensate with vortices is allowed to ballistically expand till the size increases by one order before the vortices are imaged. Surface wave spectroscopy and the change in aspect ratio of a rotating cloud are the other techniques used. Studies have been made on the creation and dynamics of single vortex and on systems with more than a hundred vortices. Results have been obtained on vortex nucleation, stability of vortex structures, nature of the vortex lattice and defects in such a lattice. Important results are: (a) evidence exists that vortex nucleation takes place by a surface mode instability; but this is not the only mechanism; (b) the vortex lattice is perfectly triangular right up to the edge; (c) in the initial stages of rotation of the cloud a tangled web of vortices is seen; it takes a few hundred milliseconds before the vortices arrange themselves in a lattice; this time appears to be independent of temperature; (d) the decay of vortices appears to arise from the transfer of energy to the rotating thermal component and is dependent on temperature; (e) defects in the lattices such as dislocations and grain boundaries are seen; (f) transverse oscillations (Tkachenko modes) of the vortex lattice have been observed; and (g) giant vortices have been produced. These will be discussed.     

Tunable ground-state solitons in spin–orbit coupling Bose–Einstein condensates in the presence of optical lattices

Properties of the ground-state solitons, which exist in the spin–orbit coupling(SOC) Bose–Einstein condensates(BEC) in the presence of optical lattices, are presented. Results show that several system parameters, such as SOC strength,lattice depth, and lattice frequency, have important influences on properties of ground state solitons in SOC BEC. By controlling these parameters, structure and spin polarization of the ground-state solitons can be effectively tuned, so manipulation of atoms may be realized.     

Solitons in Bose–Einstein condensates

The Gross–Pitaevskii equation (GPE) describing the evolution of the Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) order parameter for weakly interacting bosons supports dark solitons for repulsive interactions and bright solitons for attractive interactions. After a brief introduction to BEC and a general review of GPE solitons, we present our results on solitons that arise in the BEC of hard-core bosons, which is a system with strongly repulsive interactions. For a given background density, this system is found to support both a dark soliton and an antidark soliton (i.e., a bright soliton on a pedestal) for the density profile. When the background has more (less) holes than particles, the dark (antidark) soliton solution dies down as its velocity approaches the sound velocity of the system, while the antidark (dark) soliton persists all the way up to the sound velocity. This persistence is in contrast to the behaviour of the GPE dark soliton, which dies down at the Bogoliubov sound velocity. The energy–momentum dispersion relation for the solitons is shown to be similar to the exact quantum low-lying excitation spectrum found by Lieb for bosons with a delta-function interaction.     

玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体中的双孤子相互作用操控

考虑周期性驱动线性势, 利用Darboux变换法解析地研究了玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体(BEC)中的双孤子相互作用, 得到了S-波散射长度的临界值. 结果表明: 当S-波散射长度高于临界值时, BEC中的两个亮孤子相互吸引并融合; 而当S-波散射长度低于临界值时, 两个亮孤子保持局域稳定. 此外, 在外部势阱的驱动下, 两个稳定的亮孤子产生周期性振荡行为.     

Why PeV scale left–right symmetry is a good thing

We report the results of in-situ characterization of ⁸⁷Rb atom cloud in a quadrupole Ioffe configuration (QUIC) magnetic trap after a radio-frequency (RF) evaporative cooling of the trapped atom cloud. The in-situ absorption images of the atom cloud have shown clear bimodal optical density (OD) profiles which indicate the Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) phase transition in the trapped gas. Also, we report here, for the first time, the measured variation in the sizes of the condensate and thermal clouds with the final frequency selected in the frequency scan of the RF-field for evaporative cooling. These results on frequency-dependent sizes of the clouds are consistent with the theoretical understanding of the BEC phenomenon in the trap.     

Vector kink-dark complex solitons in a three-component Bose–Einstein condensate

We investigate kink-dark complex solitons(KDCSs) in a three-component Bose–Einstein condensate(BEC) with repulsive interactions and pair-transition(PT) effects. Soliton profiles critically depend on the phase differences between dark solitons excitation elements. We report a type of kink-dark soliton profile which shows a droplet-bubble-droplet with a density dip, in sharp contrast to previously studied bubble-droplets. The interaction between two KDCSs is further investigated. It demonstrates some striking particle transition behaviours during their collision processes, while soliton profiles survive after the collision. Additionally, we exhibit the state transition dynamics between a kink soliton and a dark soliton. These results suggest that PT effects can induce more abundant complex solitons dynamics in multi-component BEC.     

Dynamically compressed bright and dark solitons in highly anisotropic Bose-Einstein condensates

Bright and dark matter wave solitons are constructed analytically in a three-dimensional (3D) highly anisotropic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with a time-dependent parabolic potential, and numerical simulations are performed to confirm the existence and dynamics of such analytical solutions. Different classes of bright and dark solitons are discovered among the solutions of the generalized anisotropic (3+1)D Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Our results demonstrate that the bright and dark solitary waves can be manipulated and controlled by changing the scattering length, which can be used to compress the second-order bright and dark solitons of BECs into desired peak density.     

Collisional-inhomogeneity-induced generation of matter-wave dark solitons

We propose an experimentally relevant protocol for the controlled generation of matter-wave dark solitons in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs). In particular, using direct numerical simulations, we show that by switching-on a spatially inhomogeneous (step-like) change of the s-wave scattering length, it is possible to generate a controllable number of dark solitons in a quasi-one-dimensional BEC. A similar phenomenology is also found in the two-dimensional setting of “disk-shaped” BECs but, as the solitons are subject to the snaking instability, they decay into vortex structures. A detailed investigation of how the parameters involved affect the emergence and evolution of solitons and vortices is provided.     

超流费米气体中两维孤子的动力学

我们利用解析和数值的方法,研究从Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer(BCS)超流到玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚(BEC)渡越的过程里超流费米气体中两维(2D)孤子的形成和演化.基于超流流体力学方程,在准二维和长波近似下,推导描述弱非线性激发带正色散项的Kadomtsev-Petviashvili方程;给出整个BCS-BEC渡越的2D孤子解,以及数值求解孤子在囚禁势中的演化.数值结果显示由于Snake(横向)不稳定性,大振幅的暗孤子会衰变为大量涡旋-反涡旋对,并且这个不稳定性在不同超流区域不同.     

Dipolar Bose–Einstein condensate soliton on a two-dimensional optical lattice

Using a three-dimensional mean-field model we study one-dimensional dipolar Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) solitons on a weak two-dimensional (2D) square and triangular optical lattice (OL) potentials placed perpendicular to the polarization direction. The stabilization against collapse and expansion of these solitons for a fixed dipolar interaction and a fixed number of atoms is possible for short-range atomic interaction lying between two critical limits. The solitons collapse below the lower limit and escapes to infinity above the upper limit. One can also stabilize identical tiny BEC solitons arranged on the 2D square OL sites forming a stable 2D array of interacting droplets when the OL sites are filled with a filling factor of 1/2 or less. Such an array is unstable when the filling factor is made more than 1/2 by occupying two adjacent sites of OL. These stable 2D arrays of dipolar superfluid BEC solitons are quite similar to the recently studied dipolar Mott insulator states on 2D lattice in the Bose–Hubbard model by Capogrosso-Sansone et al. [B. Capogrosso-Sansone, C. Trefzger, M. Lewenstein, P. Zoller, G. Pupillo, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104 (2010) 125301].     

Effects of localized impurity of trap on characteristics of two Bose-Einstein condensates

The characteristics of solitons with a localized impurity in Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) are investigated with numerical simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation, the effects of the impurity on BEC solitons are discussed, and the atom population transferring ratios between the two BECs as time goes on are analyzed. It is found that population transfer depends on the impurity strength and the parameters of the system of BECs.     

Absorption-induced optical bistability and dissipative solitons in a BEC interferometer

A model of the absorption-induced nonlinear response of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate driven by a weak resonant laser beam is presented. The model takes into account the slow BEC decay due to spontaneous emission and magnetic-trap loss by binary collisions, as well as compensation of the decay by injection of ground-state atoms into the trap. It is shown that the nonlinear response is much stronger than in other nonlinear optical media. For a BEC interferometer driven by a monochromatic beam, the threshold intensity for hysteretic switching is found, and dissipative spatial solitons are demonstrated.     

Matter-Wave Solitons in Two-Component Bose-Einstein Condensates with Tunable Interactions and Time Varying Potential

We present three families of exact matter-wave soliton solutions for an effective one-dimension two-component Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) with tunable interactions, harmonic potential and gain or loss term.We investigate the dynamics of bright-bright solitons, bright-dark solitons
and dark-dark solitons for the time-dependent expulsive harmonic trap potential,periodically modulated harmonic trap potential, and kinklike modulated harmonic trap potential.Through the Feshbach resonance, these dynamics can be realized in experiments by suitable control of time-dependent trap parameters, atomic interactions, and interaction with thermal cloud.     

Approximate solutions for half-dark solitons in spinor non-equilibrium Polariton condensates

In this work I generalize and apply an analytical approximation to analyze 1D states of non-equilibrium spinor polariton Bose–Einstein condensates (BEC). Solutions for the condensate wave functions carrying black solitons and half-dark solitons are presented. The derivation is based on the non-conservative Lagrangian formalism for complex Ginzburg–Landau type equations (cGLE), which provides ordinary differential equations for the parameters of the dark soliton solutions in their dynamic environment. Explicit expressions for the stationary dark soliton solution are stated. Subsequently the method is extended to spin sensitive polariton condensates, which yields ordinary differential equations for the parameters of half-dark solitons. Finally a stationary case with explicit expressions for half-dark solitons is presented.     

Superfluid fermi gas in optical lattices: self-trapping, stable, moving solitons and breathers

We predict the existence of self-trapping, stable, moving solitons and breathers of Fermi wave packets along the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC)-BCS crossover in one dimension (1D), 2D, and 3D optical lattices. The dynamical phase diagrams for self-trapping, solitons, and breathers of the Fermi matter waves along the BEC-BCS crossover are presented analytically and verified numerically by directly solving a discrete nonlinear Schr?dinger equation. We find that the phase diagrams vary greatly along the BEC-BCS crossover; the dynamics of Fermi wave packet are different from that of Bose wave packet.     

Matter wave interferometry for measuring a molecular transition dipole moment

We consider localized states of both single- and two-component Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) confined in a potential resulting from the superposition of linear and nonlinear optical lattices and make use of Vakhitov-Kolokolov criterion to investigate the effect of nonlinear lattice on the stability of the soliton solutions in the linear optical lattice (LOL). For the single-component case we show that a weak nonlinear lattice has very little effect on the stability of such solitons while sufficiently strong nonlinear optical lattice (NOL) squeezes them to produce narrow bound states. For two-component condensates we find that when the strength of the NOL (γ ₁) is less than that of the LOL (V ₀) a relatively weak intra-atomic interaction (IAI) has little effect on the stability of the component solitons. This is true for both attractive and repulsive IAI. A strong attractive IAI, however, squeezes the BEC solitons while a similar repulsive IAI makes the component solitons wider. For γ ₁ > V ₀, only a strong attractive IAI squeezes the BEC solitons but the squeezing effect is less prominent than that found for γ ₁ < V ₀. We make useful checks on the results of our semianalytical stability analysis by solving the appropriate Gross-Pitaevskii equations numerically.     

Controlling the amplitude of soliton in agrowing Bose--Einstein condensate by means of Feshbach resonance

By using Darboux transformation, this paper studies analytically the nonlinear dynamics of a one-dimensional growing Bose-Einstein condensate （BEC）. It is shown that the growing model has an important effect on the amplitude of the soliton in the condensates. In the absence of the growing model, there exhibits the stable alternate bright solitons in the condensates. In the presence of the growing model, the obtained results show that the amplitude of the bright soliton decreases （increases） for the BEC growing coefficient Ω 〈 0 （Ω 〉 0）. Furthermore, we propose experimental protocols to manipulate the amplitude of the bright soliton by varying the scattering length via the Feshbach resonance in the future experiment.     

Controlling the motion of solitons in BEC by a weakly periodic potential

By developing multiple-scale method combined with Wentzel--Kramer--Brillouin expansion, this paper analytically studies the modulating effect of weakly periodic potential on the dynamical properties of the Bose--Einstein condensates (BEC) trapped in harmonic magnetic traps. A black--grey soliton transition is observed in the BEC trapped in harmonic magnetic potential, due to the weakly periodic potential modulating effect. Meanwhile, it finds that with the slight increase of the weakly periodic potential strength, the velocity of the soliton decreases, while its width firstly decreases then increases, a minimum exists there. These results show that the amplitude, velocity, and width of matter solitons can be effectively managed by means of a weakly periodic potential.     

Stabilization of two-dimensional solitons and vortices against supercritical collapse by lattice potentials

It is known that optical-lattice (OL) potentials can stabilize solitons and solitary vortices against the critical collapse, generated by cubic attractive nonlinearity in the 2D geometry. We demonstrate that OLs can also stabilize various species of fundamental and vortical solitons against the supercritical collapse, driven by the double-attractive cubic-quintic nonlinearity (however, solitons remain unstable in the case of the pure quintic nonlinearity). Two types of OLs are considered, producing similar results: the 2D Kronig-Penney “checkerboard”, and the sinusoidal potential. Soliton families are obtained by means of a variational approximation, and as numerical solutions. The stability of all families, which include fundamental and multi-humped solitons, vortices of oblique and straight types, vortices built of quadrupoles, and supervortices, strictly obeys the Vakhitov-Kolokolov criterion. The model applies to optical media and BEC in “pancake” traps.     

Stationary wave packets in the Kerr nonlinear media with imaginary harmonic potential and linear gain

The existence of stationary wave packets in the nonlinear Kerr media with an imaginary harmonic potential and a linear gain is investigated. By employing a variational approach the existence of stable bright solitons is shown for the case of a defocusing nonlinearity. In focusing nonlinear media, the bright solitons have been shown to be unstable. The predictions of variational approach are confirmed by numerical simulations of the full modified NLS equation. The predicted stationary localized wave packets can be observed in a quasi-one-dimensional BEC with an imaginary optical potential and atoms feeding.