Observation of dipole-dipole interaction in a degenerate quantum gas

We have investigated the expansion of a Bose-Einstein condensate of strongly magnetic chromium atoms. The long-range and anisotropic magnetic dipole-dipole interaction leads to an anisotropic deformation of the expanding chromium condensate which depends on the orientation of the atomic dipole moments. Our measurements are consistent with the theory of dipolar quantum gases and show that a chromium condensate is an excellent model system to study dipolar interactions in such gases.     

Tuning the dipolar interaction in quantum gases

We have studied the tunability of the interaction between permanent dipoles in Bose-Einstein condensates. Based on time-dependent control of the anisotropy of the dipolar interaction, we show that even the very weak magnetic dipole coupling in alkali gases can be used to excite collective modes. Furthermore, we discuss how the effective dipolar coupling in a Bose-Einstein condensate can be tuned from positive to negative values and even switched off completely by fast rotation of the orientation of the dipoles.     

Modulational Instability of Dipolar Bose-Einstein Condensates in Optical Lattices with Three-Body Interactions

Motivated by the recent experiment [Nature 530(2016) 194] in which a stable droplet in a dipolar quantum gas has been created by the interaction-induced instability, we focus on the modulation instability of an optically-trapped dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate with three-body interaction. Within the mean-field level, we analytically solve the discrete cubic-quintic Gross-Pitaevskii equation with dipole-dipole interaction loaded into a deep optical lattice and show how combined effects of the three-body interaction and dipole-dipole interaction on the condition of modulational instability. Our results show that the interplay of the three-body interaction and dipole-dipole interaction can dramatically change the modulation instability condition compared with the ordinary Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We believe that the predicted results in this work can be useful for the future possible experiment of loading a Bose-Einstein condensate of ~(164)Dy atoms with strong magnetic dipole-dipole interaction into an optical lattice.     

Spinor dynamics in an antiferromagnetic spin-1 condensate

We observe coherent spin oscillations in an antiferromagnetic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate of sodium. The variation of the spin oscillations with magnetic field shows a clear signature of nonlinearity, in agreement with theory, which also predicts anharmonic oscillations near a critical magnetic field. Measurements of the magnetic phase diagram agree with predictions made in the approximation of a single spatial mode. The oscillation period yields the best measurement to date of the sodium spin-dependent interaction coefficient, determining that the difference between the sodium spin-dependent s-wave scattering lengths a(f=2) - a(f=0) is 2.47+/-0.27 Bohr radii.     

Dynamical stability of dipolar condensate in a parametrically modulated one-dimensional optical lattice

We study the stabilization properties of dipolar Bose–Einstein condensate in a deep one-dimensional optical lattice with an additional external parametrically modulated harmonic trap potential. Through both analytical and numerical methods, we solve a dimensionless nonlocal nonlinear discrete Gross–Pitaevskii equation with both the short-range contact interaction and the long-range dipole–dipole interaction. It is shown that, the stability of dipolar condensate in modulated deep optical lattice can be controled by coupled effects of the contact interaction, the dipolar interaction and the external modulation. The system can be stabilized when the dipolar interaction, the contact interaction, the average strength of potential and the ratio of amplitude to frequency of the modulation satisfy a critical condition. In addition, the breather state, the diffused state and the attractive-interaction-induced-trapped state are predicted. The dipolar interaction and the external modulation of the lattice play important roles in stabilizing the condensate.     

具有面内四极磁场的旋转玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体的基态结构研究

通过虚时演化方法研究了具有面内四极磁场的旋转玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体的基态结构.结果发现:面内四极磁场和旋转双重作用可导致中央Mermin-Ho涡旋的产生;随着磁场梯度增强,Mermin-Ho涡旋周围环绕的涡旋趋向对称化排布;在四极磁场下,密度相互作用和自旋交换相互作用作为体系的调控参数,可以控制Mermin-Ho涡旋周围的涡旋数目;该体系自旋结构中存在双曲型meron和half-skyrmion两种拓扑结构.     

Effective field theory for spinor dipolar Bose Einstein condensates

We show that the effective theory of long wavelength low energy behavior of a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate(BEC) with large dipole moments (treated as a classical spin) can be modeled using an extended non-linear sigma model (NLSM) like energy functional with an additional non-local term that represents long ranged anisotropic dipole-dipole interaction. Minimizing this effective energy functional we calculate the density and spin-profile of the dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate in the mean-field regime for various trapping geometries. The resulting configurations show strong intertwining between the spin and mass density of the condensate, transfer between spin and orbital angular momentum in the form of Einstein-de Hass effect, and novel topological properties. We have also described the theoretical framework in which the collective excitations around these mean field solutions can be studied and discuss some examples qualitatively.     

Breaking of chiral symmetry and spontaneous rotation in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate

We show that a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate with ferromagnetic interactions spontaneously generates a topological spin texture, in which the m = +/- 1 components of the magnetic sublevels form vortices with opposite circulations. This phenomenon originates from an interplay between ferromagnetic interactions and spin conservation.     

Spontaneously modulated spin textures in a dipolar spinor bose-einstein condensate

Helical spin textures in a 87Rb F=1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensate are found to decay spontaneously toward a spatially modulated structure of spin domains. The formation of this modulated phase is ascribed to magnetic dipolar interactions that energetically favor the short-wavelength domains over the long-wavelength spin helix. The reduction of dipolar interactions by a sequence of rf pulses results in a suppression of the modulated phase, thereby confirming the role of dipolar interactions in this process. This study demonstrates the significance of magnetic dipole interactions in degenerate 87Rb F=1 spinor gases.     

Effective interactions between two impurities in quasi-two-dimensional dipolar Bose–Einstein condensates

We investigate the effective interaction between two heavy impurities immersed in a quasi-twodimensional dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate via a variation approach. We show that the mediated interaction is highly tunable via the contact and the dipole-dipole interactions between the background gas atoms. Interestingly, the mediated interaction potential may become an oscillating function of inter-impurity distance when roton excitation emerges under sufficiently strong dipolar interaction. Our system therefore provides an efficient way for tuning the mediated interaction between impurities.     

Bright soliton in an expulsive potential in a dipolar condensate

We study the stability of matter-wave bright solitons for a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate in a harmonic potential which is transversely attractive and longitudinally expulsive. We map the regimes of stability as a function of dipole-dipole interaction strength using sech-based variational ansatz. The critical points for collapse and explosion are presented.     

Controlled collapse of a Bose-Einstein condensate

The point of instability of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) due to attractive interactions was studied. Stable 85Rb BECs were created and then caused to collapse by slowly changing the atom-atom interaction from repulsive to attractive using a Feshbach resonance. At a critical value, an abrupt transition was observed in which atoms were ejected from the condensate. By measuring the onset of this transition as a function of number and attractive interaction strength, we determined the stability condition to be N(absolute value of a) / a(ho) = 0.459+/-0.012+/-0.054, slightly lower than the predicted value of 0.574.     

Creation of a dipolar superfluid in optical lattices

We show that, by loading a Bose-Einstein condensate of two different atomic species into an optical lattice, it is possible to achieve a Mott-insulator phase with exactly one atom of each species per lattice site. A subsequent photoassociation leads to the formation of one heteronuclear molecule with a large electric dipole moment, at each lattice site. The melting of such a dipolar Mott insulator creates a dipolar superfluid, and eventually a dipolar molecular condensate.     

Vortex phase diagram of F=1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

We have calculated the F=1 ground state of a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate trapped harmonic potential with an applied Ioffe-Pitchard magnetic field. The vortex phase diagram is found in the plane spanned by perpendicular and longitudinal magnetic fields. The ferromagnetic condensate has two vortex phases which differ by winding number in the spinor components. The two vortices for the F(z)=-1 antiferromagnetic condensate are separated in space. Moreover, we considered an average local spin || to testify to what extent it is parallel to magnetic field (the nonadiabatic effects). We have shown that the effects are important at vortex cores.     

Anisotropic superfluidity in a dipolar Bose gas

We study the superfluid character of a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate (DBEC) in a quasi-two dimensional geometry. We consider the dipole polarization to have some nonzero projection into the plane of the condensate so that the effective interaction is anisotropic in this plane, yielding an anisotropic dispersion relation. By performing direct numerical simulations of a probe moving through the DBEC, we observe the sudden onset of drag or creation of vortex-antivortex pairs at critical velocities that depend strongly on the direction of the probe's motion. This anisotropy emerges because of the anisotropic manifestation of a rotonlike mode in the system.     

Scattering length instability in dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates

We predict a new kind of instability in a Bose-Einstein condensate composed of dipolar particles. Namely, a comparatively weak dipole moment can produce a large, negative two-body scattering length that can collapse the Bose-Einstein condensate. To verify this effect, we validate mean-field solutions to this problem using exact, diffusion Monte Carlo methods. We show that the diffusion Monte Carlo energies are reproduced accurately within a mean-field framework if the variation of the s-wave scattering length with the dipole strength is accounted for properly.     

Vortices in dipolar Bose–Einstein condensates in synthetic magnetic field

We study the formation of vortices in a dipolar Bose–Einstein condensate in a synthetic magnetic field by numerically solving the Gross–Pitaevskii equation. The formation process depends on the dipole strength, the rotating frequency, the potential geometry, and the orientation of the dipoles. We make an extensive comparison with vortices created by a rotating trap, especially focusing on the issues of the critical rotating frequency and the vortex number as a function of the rotating frequency. We observe that a higher rotating frequency is needed to generate a large number of vortices and the anisotropic interaction manifests itself as a perceptible difference in the vortex formation. Furthermore, a large dipole strength or aspect ratio also can increase the number of vortices effectively. In particular, we discuss the validity of the Feynman rule.     

Anderson localization of a spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate in disorder potential

We present numerical results of a one-dimensional spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate expanding in a speckle disorder potential by employing the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Localization properties of a spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate in zero-momentum phase, magnetic phase and stripe phase are studied. It is found that the localizing behavior in the zero-momentum phase is similar to the normal Bose-Einstein condensate. Moreover, in both magnetic phase and stripe phase, the localization length changes non-monotonically as the fitting interval increases. In magnetic phases, the Bose-Einstein condensate will experience spin relaxation in disorder potential.     

How does a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate collapse?

We emphasize that the macroscopic collapse of a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate in a pancake-shaped trap occurs through local density fluctuations, rather than through a global collapse to the trap center. This hypothesis is supported by a recent experiment in a chromium condensate.     

线性与非线性光晶格中偶极孤立子的稳定性

利用变分法研究了线性和非线性交叉光晶格中偶极玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚(BEC)体系中物质波孤立子的稳定性.选用柱对称高斯型试探波函数,得出参数的Euler-Lagrange方程和体系的有效作用势能,根据有效势能是否具有局域最小值判断体系是否具有稳定孤立子解.结果表明,由于存在接触相互作用的空间调制,在排斥和吸引偶极相互作用下,均能形成稳定的孤立子解.给出了参数空间中存在稳定解的区域和物质波波包宽度随时间的变化曲线.