Complex quantum gases: spinor Bose–Einstein condensates of trapped atomic vapors

We discuss the energy eigenstates, ground and spin mixing dynamics of a spin-1 spinor Bose–Einstein condensate for a dilute atomic vapor confined in an optical trap. Our results go beyond the mean field picture and are developed within a fully quantized framework.     

Bose–Einstein condensation in atomic hydrogen

The addition of atomic hydrogen to the set of gases in which Bose–Einstein condensation can be observed expands the range of parameters over which this remarkable phenomenon can be studied. Hydrogen, with the lowest atomic mass, has the highest transition temperature, 50 μK in our experiments. The very weak interaction between the atoms results in a high ratio of the condensate to normal gas densities, even at modest condensate fractions. Using cryogenic rather than laser precooling generates large condensates. Finally, two-photon spectroscopy is introduced as a versatile probe of the phase transition: condensation in real space is manifested by the appearance of a high-density component in the gas, condensation in momentum space is readily apparent in the momentum distribution, and the phase transition line can be delineated by following the evolution of the density of the normal component.     

Bose–Einstein condensation of metastable helium in a bi-planar quadrupole Ioffe configuration trap

Using a novel magnetic trapping geometry we have evaporatively cooled metastable helium atoms to form a Bose–Einstein condensate containing approximately one million atoms. This is only the fourth demonstration of a metastable condensate and the first realisation of a BEC in a bi-planar quadrupole Ioffe configuration magnetic trap.     

Quantum-phase dynamics of two-component Bose–Einstein condensates: Collapse–revival of macroscopic superposition states

We investigate the long-time dynamics of two-component dilute gas Bose–Einstein condensates with relatively different two-body interactions and Josephson couplings between the two components. Although in certain parameter regimes the quantum state of the system is known to evolve into macroscopic superposition, i.e., Schrödinger cat state, of two states with relative atom number differences between the two components, the Schrödinger cat state is also found to repeat the collapse and revival behavior in the long-time region. The dynamical behavior of the Pegg–Barnett phase difference between the two components is shown to be closely connected with the dynamics of the relative atom number difference for different parameters. The variation in the relative magnitude between the Josephson coupling and intra- and inter-component two-body interaction difference turns out to significantly change not only the size of the Schrödinger cat state but also its collapse–revival period, i.e., the lifetime of the Schrödinger cat state.     

Resonant energy transfer in Bose–Einstein condensates

We consider the dynamics of a dilute, magnetically-trapped one-dimensional Bose–Einstein condensate whose scattering length is periodically modulated with a frequency that linearly increases in time. We show that the response frequency of the condensate locks to its eigenfrequency for appropriate ranges of the parameters. The locking sets in at resonance, i.e., when the effective frequency of driving field is equal to the eigenfrequency, and is accompanied by a sudden increase of the oscillations amplitude due to resonant energy transfer. We show that the dynamics of the condensate is given, to leading order, by a driven harmonic oscillator on the time-dependent part of the width of the condensate. This equation captures accurately both the locking and the resonant energy transfer as it is evidenced by comparison with direct numerical simulations of original Gross–Pitaevskii equation.     

Bose–Einstein condensation in binary mixture of Bose gases

The Bose–Einstein condensation (BEC) in a binary mixture of Bose gases is studied by means of the Cornwall–Jackiw–Tomboulis (CJT) effective action approach. The equations of state (EoS) and various scenarios of phase transitions of the system are considered in detail, in particular, the numerical computations are carried out for symmetry restoration (SR), symmetry nonrestoration (SNR) and inverse symmetry breaking (ISB) for getting an insight into their physical nature. It is shown that due to the cross interaction between distinct components of mixture there occur two interesting phenomena: the high temperature BEC and the inverse BEC, which could be tested in experiments.     

Wannier–Stark chaos of a Bose–Einstein condensate in 1D optical lattices

Using the idea of the macroscopic quantum wave function and the definition of the Melnikov chaos, we investigate the spatially chaotic features of a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) in a Wannier–Stark potential for the trivial phase and the non-trivial phase cases. The perturbed chaotic solutions are constructed, and the chaotic and unstable regions on the parameter space are illustrated. Numerical calculations to the spatial evolutions of the atomic number density and the energy density demonstrate the analytical results and exhibit the chaotic spatial distribution and energy distribution of the BEC atoms.     

Ultracold atomic gases in optical lattices: mimicking condensed matter physics and beyond

We review recent developments in the physics of ultracold atomic and molecular gases in optical lattices. Such systems are nearly perfect realisations of various kinds of Hubbard models, and as such may very well serve to mimic condensed matter phenomena. We show how these systems may be employed as quantum simulators to answer some challenging open questions of condensed matter, and even high energy physics. After a short presentation of the models and the methods of treatment of such systems, we discuss in detail, which challenges of condensed matter physics can be addressed with (i) disordered ultracold lattice gases, (ii) frustrated ultracold gases, (iii) spinor lattice gases, (iv) lattice gases in “artificial” magnetic fields, and, last but not least, (v) quantum information processing in lattice gases. For completeness, also some recent progress related to the above topics with trapped cold gases will be discussed.

Motto:     

Phase Diagrams of Periodically Driven Spin–Orbit Coupled 87Rb and 23Na Bose–Einstein Condensates

The phase boundaries of periodically driven spin–orbit coupled BECs with effective two‐body interactions are analytically calculated by using variational method. The phase diagrams of periodically driven ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ and ${}^{23}\mathrm{Na}$ systems present distinguished features from undriven systems, respectively. For the ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ BECs, the critical density $n_c$ (density at quantum tricritical point) will be dramatically reduced in some parameter regions, and the prospect of observing this intriguing quantum tricritical point is greatly enlarged. Moreover, a series of quantum tricritical points emerge quasi‐periodically when increasing the Raman coupling strength with fixed ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ density. In the ${}^{23}\mathrm{Na}$ BECs, two hyperfine states of ${}^{23}\mathrm{Na}$ atoms can be miscible within the suitable regions of driving parameter space. As a result, ${}^{23}\mathrm{Na}$ systems will stay in the stripe phase with small Raman frequency at typical density, which expands the region of stripe phase in the phase diagram. In addition, an absence of quantum tricritical point in such ${}^{23}\mathrm{Na}$ system is observed, which is very unlike ${}^{87}\mathrm{Rb}$ systems.     

Coherent state approach to the cross-collisional effects in the population dynamics of a two-mode Bose–Einstein condensate

We reanalyze the non-linear population dynamics of a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) in a double well trap considering a semiclassical approach based on a time dependent variational principle applied to coherent states associated to SU(2) group. Employing a two-mode local approximation and hard sphere type interaction, we show in the Schwinger’s pseudo-spin language the occurrence of a fixed point bifurcation that originates a separatrix of motion on a sphere. This separatrix corresponds to the borderline between two dynamical regimes of Josephson oscillations and mesoscopic self-trapping. We also consider the effects of interaction between particles in different wells, known as cross-collisions. Such terms are usually neglected for traps sufficiently far apart, but recently it has been shown that they contribute to the effective tunneling constant with a factor growing linearly with the particle number. This effect changes considerably the effective tunneling of the system for sufficiently large number of trapped atoms, in perfect accord with experimental data. Finally, we identify analytically the transition parameter associated to the bifurcation in the generalized phase space of the model with cross-collision terms, and show how the dynamical regime depends on the initial conditions of the system and the collisional parameters values.     

Slow light in ultra-cold atomic gases

We investigate the influence of slow light with an orbital angular momentum on the mechanical motion of ultra-cold atomic gases including both the atomic Bose–Einstein condensates and degenerate Fermi gases. We present a microscopic analysis of the interplay between light and matter and show how slow light can provide an effective magnetic field acting on the electrically neutral atoms.     

Quantum phase diagram for homogeneous Bose‐Einstein condensate

We calculate the quantum phase transition for a homogeneous Bose gas in the plane of s‐wave scattering length a_s and temperature T. This is done by improving a one‐loop result near the interaction‐free Bose‐Einstein critical temperature T_c⁽⁰⁾ with the help of recent high‐loop results on the shift of the critical temperature due to a weak atomic repulsion based on variational perturbation theory. The quantum phase diagram shows a nose above T_c⁽⁰⁾, so that we predict the existence of a reentrant transition above T_c⁽⁰⁾, where an increasing repulsion leads to the formation of a condensate.     

Local Bose condensate: observations on two-dimensional atomic hydrogen

We report on new experiments at Turku where two-dimensional atomic hydrogen gas has been compressed magnetically to high degrees of quantum degeneracy on the surface of liquid ⁴He at about 200 mK. The results are in good agreement with our earlier observations: The probability of 3-body dipolar recombination is found to decrease gradually by an order of magnitude but to show no levelling yet, when the 2D phase-space density increases from 3 to 9. This effect is attributed mainly to a decrease in the local 3-particle correlator caused by the appearance and growth of a more or less local 2D condensate. The roles of interactions and out-of-plane delocalization of adsorbed H atoms are also discussed.     

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.     

Multi-Qubit Bose–Einstein Condensate Trap for Atomic Boson Sampling

We propose a multi-qubit Bose–Einstein-condensate (BEC) trap as a platform for studies of quantum statistical phenomena in many-body interacting systems. In particular, it could facilitate testing atomic boson sampling of the excited-state occupations and its quantum advantage over classical computing in a full, controllable and clear way. Contrary to a linear interferometer enabling Gaussian boson sampling of non-interacting non-equilibrium photons, the BEC trap platform pertains to an interacting equilibrium many-body system of atoms. We discuss a basic model and the main features of such a multi-qubit BEC trap.     

Bose–Einstein Condensation for Homogeneous Interacting Systems with a One-Particle Spectral Gap

We prove rigorously the occurrence of zero-mode Bose–Einstein condensation for a class of continuous homogeneous systems of boson particles with superstable interactions. This is the first example of a translation invariant continuous Bose-system, where the existence of the Bose–Einstein condensation is proved rigorously for the case of non-trivial two-body particle interactions, provided there is a large enough one-particle excitations spectral gap. The idea of proof consists of comparing the system with specially tuned soluble models.     

A continuation BSOR-Lanczos–Galerkin method for positive bound states of a multi-component Bose–Einstein condensate

We develop a continuation block successive over-relaxation (BSOR)-Lanczos–Galerkin method for the computation of positive bound states of time-independent, coupled Gross–Pitaevskii equations (CGPEs) which describe a multi-component Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC). A discretization of the CGPEs leads to a nonlinear algebraic eigenvalue problem (NAEP). The solution curve with respect to some parameter of the NAEP is then followed by the proposed method. For a single-component BEC, we prove that there exists a unique global minimizer (the ground state) which is represented by an ordinary differential equation with the initial value. For a multi-component BEC, we prove that m identical ground/bound states will bifurcate into m different ground/bound states at a finite repulsive inter-component scattering length. Numerical results show that various positive bound states of a two/three-component BEC are solved efficiently and reliably by the continuation BSOR-Lanczos–Galerkin method.     

Manipulating nonclassical quantum statistical properties of light field by an f-deformed Bose–Einstein condensate

We consider the interaction between an f-deformed Bose–Einstein condensate and a single-mode quantized light field. By using the Gardiner’s phonon operators, we find that there exists a natural deformation in the model which modifies the Bogoliubov approximation under the condition of large but finite number of particles in condensate. This approach introduces an intrinsically deformed Bose–Einstein condensate, where the deformation parameter, well-defined by the particle number N in condensate, controls the strength of the associated nonlinearity. By introducing the deformed Gardiner’s phonon operators we modify the very dilute-gas approximation through including atomic collisions in condensate. The rate of atomic collisions κ, as a new deformation parameter in the deformed Bose–Einstein condensate, controls the nonlinearity related to the atomic collisions. We show that by controlling the nonlinearities in the f-deformed atomic condensate through the two atomic parameters N and κ, it is possible to generate and manipulate the nonclassical quantum statistical properties of radiation field, such as, the sub-Poissonian photon statistics and quadrature squeezing. Also, it is possible to control the collapses and revivals phenomena in the average number of photons by atomic parameters N and κ.     

Trapped Bose−Einstein condensates in synthetic magnetic field

The rotational properties of Bose−Einstein condensates in a synthetic magnetic field are studied by numerically solving the Gross−Pitaevskii equation and comparing the results to those of condensates confined in a rotating trap. It appears to be more difficult to add a large angular momentum to condensates spun up by the synthetic magnetic field than by the rotating trap. However, strengthening the repulsive interaction between atoms is an effective and realizable route to overcoming this problem and can at least generate vortex-lattice-like structures. In addition, the validity of the Feynman rule for condensates in the synthetic magnetic field is verified.