Critical velocities in superfluids and the nucleation of vortices

The problem of critical velocities in superfluids, that is the comprehension of superfluidity breakdown by flow, has been long standing. One difficulty stems from the existence of several breakdown mechanisms. A major advance has come from the observation of single 2π phase slips, which arise from the nucleation of quantised vortices, that is, their creation ex nihilo. The statistical properties of the nucleation process in both the thermal regime and the quantum regime are identified and analysed: vortex nucleation provides a well-documented case of macroscopic quantum tunnelling (MQT). In particular, a close scrutiny of the experimental data obtained on ultra-pure ⁴He reveals the influence of damping on tunnelling, a rare occurrence where the effect of the environment on MQT can be studied. To cite this article: É. Varoquaux, C. R. Physique 7 (2006).     

Vortex dynamics in superfluids and the Berry phase

There is a close analogy between the dynamics of electrons in a strong magnetic field and the dynamics of quantized vortices in superfluids and superconductors. In both systems an important part is played by a term in the Lagrangian linear in velocity that corresponds to a Berry phase in the quantum theory. This Berry phase can be calculated from the usual trial wave function for a vortex. This has important consequences for quantum tunneling of vortices, and leads unambiguously to the form of the Magnus force in a superconductor.     

Effects of geometrical symmetry on the vortex in mesoscopic superconductors

We first systematically study the multivortex states in mesoscopic superconductors via self-consistent Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations. Our work focuses on how the geometrical symmetry affects the penetration and arrangement of vortices in mesoscopic superconductors and find that the key parameter determining the entrance of the vortex is the current density at the hot spots on the edge of sample. Through determining the spatial distribution of hot spots, the geometrical symmetry of the superconducting sample influences the nucleation and entrance of vortices. Our results propose one possible experimental approach to control and manipulate the quantum states of mesoscopic superconductors with their topological geometries, and they can be easily generalized to the confined superfluids and Bose-Einstein condensates.     

Vortex fusion and giant vortex states in confined superconducting condensates

In a direct scanning tunneling spectroscopy experiment we address the problem of the quantum vortex phases in strongly confined superconductors. The strong confinement regime is achieved in in situ grown ultrathin single nanocrystals of Pb by tuning their lateral size to a few coherence lengths. Upon an external magnetic field, the scanning tunneling spectroscopy revealed novel ultradense arrangements of single Abrikosov vortices characterized by an intervortex distance up to 3 times shorter than the bulk critical one. At yet stronger confinement we discovered the giant vortex phase; the spatial evolution of the excitation tunneling spectra in the cores of these unusual quantum objects was explored. We anticipate the giant vortex phase to be a common feature of other confined quantum condensates such as superfluids, Bose-Einstein condensates of cold atoms, etc.     

Detecting the quantum zero-point motion of vortices in the cuprate superconductors

We explore the experimental implications of a recent theory of the quantum dynamics of vortices in two-dimensional superfluids proximate to Mott insulators. The theory predicts modulations in the local density of states in the regions over which the vortices execute their quantum zero-point motion. We use the spatial extent of such modulations in scanning tunnelling microscopy measurements [J.E. Hoffman, E.W. Hudson, K.M. Lang, V. Madhavan, S.H. Pan, H. Eisaki, S. Uchida, J.C. Davis, Science 295 (2002) 466] on the vortex lattice of Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O_8+δ to estimate the inertial mass of a point vortex. We discuss other, more direct, experimental signatures of the vortex dynamics.     

Entangled optical vortex links

Optical vortices are lines of phase singularity which percolate through all optical fields. We report the entanglement of linked optical vortex loops in the light produced by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. As measured by using a Bell inequality, this entanglement between topological features extends over macroscopic and finite volumes. The entanglement of photons in complex three-dimensional topological states suggests the possibility of entanglement of similar features in other quantum systems describable by complex scalar functions, such as superconductors, superfluids, and Bose-Einstein condensates.     

Suppression of superconductivity in mesoscopic superconductors

We propose a new boundary-driven phase transition associated with vortex nucleation in mesoscopic superconductors (of size of the order of, or larger than, the penetration depth). We derive the rescaling equations and we show that boundary effects associated with vortex nucleation lower the conventional transition temperature in mesoscopic superconductors by an amount which is a function of the size of the superconductor. This result explains recent experiments in small superconductors where it was found that the transition temperature depends on the size of the system and is lower than the critical Berezinsk?-Kosterlitz-Thouless temperature.     

Giant Vortex States in a Long Superconducting Cylinder with a Hole in Center

We have theoretically studied the nucleation of superconductivity in doubly connected superconductors in the form of long superconducting cylinders. The giant vortex states are investigated with the nonlinear Ginzburg-Landau theory. The solutions of Ginzburg-Landau equations are solved numerically with relaxation method. The quantum size effect is clearly shown through the calculation of free energy.     

Drag coefficient and mass density of moving quantum vortices in type-II superconductors

Summary The dynamics of vortex lines in type-II superconductors are discussed from a quantum electrodynamic viewpoint. When a vortex line is set into motion, electric fields are generated. These play a dual role of providing electric-field energy storage (?kinetic energy?) and also generating normal electron energy dissipation. From these considerations, the mass density and the drag coefficients for vortices can be derived. Quantum mechanisms for vortex motions and nucleation are discussed.     

Vortex nucleation by collapsing bubbles in Bose-Einstein condensates

Nucleation of vortex rings accompanies the collapse of ultrasound bubbles in superfluids. Using the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for a uniform condensate we elucidate the various stages of the collapse of a stationary spherically symmetric bubble and establish conditions necessary for vortex nucleation. The minimum radius of the stationary bubble, whose collapse leads to vortex nucleation, was found to be 28+/-1 healing lengths. The time after which the nucleation becomes possible is determined as a function of the bubble's radius. We show that vortex nucleation takes place in moving bubbles of even smaller radius if the motion makes them sufficiently oblate.     

Vortices in superconducting bulk, films and SQUIDs

The properties of the ideal periodic vortex lattice in bulk superconductors and in films of any thickness can be calculated from Ginzburg-Landau theory by an iteration method using Fourier series. The London theory yields general analytic expressions for the magnetic field and energy of arbitrary arrangements of straight or curved vortex lines. The elasticity of the vortex lattice is highly nonlocal. The magnetic response of superconductors of realistic shapes like thin and thick strips and disks or thin rectangular plates or films, containing pinned vortices, can be computed within continuum theory by solving an integral equation. A useful example is a thin square with a central hole and a radial slit, used as superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID).     

On the role of quantum tunnelling and statistical effects in the liquid gas phase transition of hot nuclei

The triggering of the liquid-gas phase transition in hot nuclear matter by quantum and statistical fluctuations is studied in a microscopic approach to nucleation which is a fluid-dynamical version of the imaginary-time dependent mean-field theory at finite temperature. It is found that quantum tunnelling processes are only important below T = 1 MeV.     

Comment on vortex mass and quantum tunneling of vortices

Vortex mass in Fermi superfluids and superconductors and its influence on quantum tunneling of vortices are discussed. The vortex mass is essentially enhanced due to the fermion zero modes in the core of the vortex: the bound states of the Bogoliubov quasiparticles localized in the core. These bound states form the normal component, which is nonzero even in the low-temperature limit. In the collisionless regime ω ₀ τ≫1 the normal component trapped by the vortex is unbound from the normal component in a bulk superfluid/superconductor and adds to the inertial mass of the moving vortex. In a d-wave superconductor the vortex mass has an additional factor of (B _c2/B)^1/2 due to the gap nodes. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 65, No. 2, 201–206 (25 January 1997) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

转动冷原子研究的前沿介绍

环流的宏观量子化是超流体最引人瞩目的性质之一．1995年玻色一爱因斯坦凝聚的实现为超流提供了一个新的研究对象，使得人们可以对转动的超流体进行深入的研究．实验上在BEC中产生了涡旋激发，并进一步观测到了涡旋晶格．理论研究表明当冷原子的转速进一步增大，涡旋品格会融解成一种新的强关联系统——量子霍尔液体．文章主要介绍近年在转动冷原子方向上理论和实验的进展．     

Vortices in trapped superfluid fermi gases

We consider a superfluid of trapped fermionic atoms and study the single vortex solution in the Ginzburg-Landau regime. We define simple analytical estimates for the main characteristics of the system, such as the vortex core size, temperature regimes for the existence of a vortex, and the effects of rotation and interactions with normal fermions. The parameter dependence of the vortex core size (healing length) is found to be essentially different from that of the healing length in metallic superconductors or in trapped atomic Bose-Einstein condensation in the Thomas-Fermi limit. This is an indication of the importance of the confining geometry for the properties of fermionic superfluids.     

Vortex quasi-crystals in mesoscopic superconducting samples

There seems to be a one to one correspondence between the phases of atomic and molecular matter(AMOM) and vortex matter(VM) in superfluids and superconductors. Crystals, liquids, and glasses have been experimentally observed in both AMOM and VM. Here, we propose a vortex quasi-crystal state which can be stabilized due to boundary and surface energy effects for samples of special shapes and sizes. For finite sized pentagonal samples, it is proposed that a phase transition between a vortex crystal and a vortex quasi-crystal occurs as a function of magnetic field and temperature as the sample size is reduced.     

Majorana modes and topological superfluids for ultracold fermionic atoms in anisotropic square optical lattices

Motivated by the recent experimental realization of two-dimensional spin-orbit couplingthrough optical Raman lattice scheme, we study attractive interacting ultracold gases withspin-orbit interaction in anisotropic square optical lattices, and find that richs-wavetopological superfluids can be realized, including Z₂ topological superfluids beyondthe characterization of “tenfold way” in addition to chiral topological superfluids. Thetopological defects-superfluid vortex and edge dislocations-may host Majorana modes insome topological superfluids, which are helpful for realizing topological quantumcomputation and Majorana fermionic quantum computation. In addition, we also discuss theBerezinsky-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transitions for different topologicalsuperfluids.     

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.     

Two-step melting of the vortex solid in layered superconductors with random columnar pins

We consider the melting of the vortex solid in highly anisotropic layered superconductors with a small concentration of random columnar pinning centers. Using large-scale numerical minimization of a free-energy functional, we find that melting of the low-temperature, nearly crystalline vortex solid (Bragg glass) into a vortex liquid occurs in two steps as the temperature increases: the Bragg glass and liquid phases are separated by an intermediate Bose glass phase. A suitably defined local melting temperature exhibits spatial variation similar to that observed in experiments.