Experimental studies of Bose-Einstein condensates in disorder

We review recent studies of the effects of disorder on an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). We focus particularly on our own experiments with ⁷Li BECs in laser speckle. Both the interaction, which gives rise to the nonlinearity in a BEC, and the disorder can be tuned experimentally. This opens many opportunities to study the interplay of interaction and disorder in both condensed matter physics and nonlinear science.     

玻璃转变研究进展

玻璃转变是凝聚态物理基础理论中的一个重要问题和难题，是涉及动力学和热力学的众多前沿问题．玻璃转变的理论一直在不断的发展和更新．从20世纪50年代出现的自由体积理论到现在还在不断完善的模态耦合理论及其他众多理论，都只能解决玻璃转变中的某些问题．一个完整的玻璃转变理论仍需要人们作艰苦的努力．为了澄清混淆不清的玻璃转变概念，文章就玻璃转变的概念、研究内容和有关理论的发展进行简述．在分析了几个占主导地位的玻璃转变理论后，阐述了玻璃转变中需要进一步深入研究的问题．     

Apparent correlations between the static length of relaxation and the linear size of dynamic heterogeneity in fragile liquids

The most puzzling aspect of the glass transition observed in laboratory is the decoupling of the dynamics from the structure. As an attempt to reconcile the dynamic and the static lengthscales associated with the glass problem, we discuss the apparent correlations between the static relaxation length, defined as that lengthscale over which the potential energy fluctuation is correlated, with the linear size of the dynamic heterogeneity. The dynamic heterogeneous domains with long life-times, may therefore be linked to the droplets of low potential energy, or the tightly bound regions inside the liquid.     

Higgs type excitations in cold atom systems

Higgs type excitations are the excitations which give mass to particles. The Higgs type excitations has a critical role both in particle physics and condensed matter physics. In particle physics, the suspected Higgs boson has been found by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in 2012. In condensed matter physics, the Higgs type excitations relate to order phase of the system. In this review, we present an overview of recent studies on the Higgs type excitations both in non-interacting and interacting cold atom systems. First, in non-interacting cold atom system, by synthesizing artificial non-Abelian gauge potential, we demonstrate that when a non-Abelian gauge potential is reduced to Abelian potential, the Abelian part constructs spin-orbit coupling, and the non-Abelian part emerges Higgs excitations. Secondly, the Higgs excitations which are the reputed Higgs amplitude mode in interacting cold atom system are discussed. We review the theoretical model and the experimental detection of Higgs amplitude mode in two dimensional superfluid. The observation of both Higgs type excitations in real experiments are also discussed.     

The effective geometry Monte Carlo algorithm: Applications to molecular communication

In this work, we address the systematic biases and random errors stemming from finite step sizes encountered in diffusion simulations. We introduce the Effective Geometry Monte Carlo (EG-MC) simulation algorithm which modifies the geometry of the receiver. We motivate our approach in a 1D toy model and then apply our findings to a spherical absorbing receiver in a 3D unbounded environment. We show that with minimal computational cost the impulse response of this receiver can be precisely simulated using EG-MC. Afterwards, we demonstrate the accuracy of our simulations and give tight constraints on the single free parameter in EG-MC. Finally, we comment on the range of applicability of our results. While we present the EG-MC algorithm for the specific case of molecular diffusion, we believe that analogous methods with effective geometry manipulations can be utilized to approach a variety of problems in other branches of physics such as condensed matter physics and cosmological large scale structure simulations.     

Pseudogap formation and quantum phase transition in strongly-correlated electron systems

Pseudogap formation is a ubiquitous phenomenon in strongly-correlated superconductors, for example cuprates, heavy-fermion superconductors, and iron pnictides. As the system is cooled, an energy gap opens in the excitation spectrum before entering the superconducting phase. The origin of formation and the relevancy to the superconductivity remain unclear, which is the most challenging problem in condensed matter physics. Here, using the cuprate as a model, we demonstrate that the formation of pseudogap is due to a massive gauge interaction between electrons, where the mass of the gauge boson, determining the interaction length scale, is the consequence of the remnant antiferromagnetic fluctuation inherited from the parent compounds. Extracting from experimental data, we predict that there is a quantum phase transition belonging to the 2D XY universality class at the critical doping where pseudogap transition vanishes.     

邻苯二甲酸二甲酯系材料的液态簧振动力学谱测量

用液态簧振动力学谱方法对邻苯二甲酸二甲酯、邻苯二甲酸二乙酯、邻苯二甲酸二丁酯和邻苯二甲酸二辛酯的系列样品进行了测量. 在升温过程中所测温区范围内，结果表明邻苯二甲酸二甲酯样品相继发生了动力学玻璃化转变、过冷液态的结晶、晶体—液态相变和挥发过程，而在邻苯二甲酸二乙酯、邻苯二甲酸二丁酯和邻苯二甲酸二辛酯样品中仅仅发生了动力学玻璃化转变和挥发过程. 上述实验结果与分析表明，液态簧振动力学谱方法是研究拥有液态过程的可靠和有效的方法，并且能够提供物质变化的丰富信息.     

Effects of interactions and disorder in two dimensions

The interplay between Coulomb interactions and randomness has been a long-standing problem in condensed matter physics. Recent thermodynamic and transport experiments have shown that in clean two-dimensional electron systems, strong interactions between carriers lead to Pauli spin susceptibility growing critically at low electron densities. In the immediate vicinity of the metal-insulator transition (MIT), both the resistance and the effective interactions become temperature dependent and exhibit a fan-like spread as the MIT is crossed. A resistance-interaction flow diagram clearly reveals a quantum critical point.     

Nonequilibrium states of driven disordered polymorphic solids

Condensed matter systems, when driven far from equilibrium, often exhibit a far more varied set of phases than their equilibrium counterparts. The existence of non-equilibrium analogs of ‘solids’ and ‘liquids’ has been demonstrated earlier in the context of models for driven disordered vortex lattices in superconductors. Here we study the effects of a structural (polymorphic) transition in a driven two-dimensional crystal placed in a quenched random background. Such a polymorphic crystal is shown to exhibit a complex sequence of unusual dynamical phases as the external drive is varied, including some which have no analog in the undriven pure system. We propose that such states should be accessible in experiments.     

Specific heats of the charge density wave compounds o-TaS and (TaSe ) I

Specific heats of the charge-density-wave compounds o-TaS₃ and (TaSe₄)₂I have been measured over the wide temperature interval 10 K-300 K. Both systems exhibit strong non-Debye behavior. Very weak and broad anomalies are observed at the Peierls transition temperatures. For o-TaS₃, the change in the curvature of the specific heat occurs at temperature of 40 K where glass transition has been deduced from dielectric measurements, and an extended scaling analysis suggests that the glass transition is associated with a dynamical cross over in length scales. We briefly discuss the characteristics and physical origins of the anomalies at both the Peierls and glass transitions. Received 5 April 2002 / Received in final form 28 June 2002 Published online 17 September 2002     

The cold atom Hubbard toolbox

We review recent theoretical advances in cold atom physics concentrating on strongly correlated cold atoms in optical lattices. We discuss recently developed quantum optical tools for manipulating atoms and show how they can be used to realize a wide range of many body Hamiltonians. Then, we describe connections and differences to condensed matter physics and present applications in the fields of quantum computing and quantum simulations. Finally, we explain how defects and atomic quantum dots can be introduced in a controlled way in optical lattice systems.     

New insight into cataract formation: enhanced stability through mutual attraction

Small-angle neutron scattering experiments and molecular dynamics simulations combined with an application of concepts from soft matter physics to complex protein mixtures provide new insight into the stability of eye lens protein mixtures. Exploring this colloid-protein analogy we demonstrate that weak attractions between unlike proteins help to maintain lens transparency in an extremely sensitive and nonmonotonic manner. These results not only represent an important step towards a better understanding of protein condensation diseases such as cataract formation, but provide general guidelines for tuning the stability of colloid mixtures, a topic relevant for soft matter physics and industrial applications.     

Dynamical mean field study of the Dirac liquid

Renormalization is one of the basic notions of condensed matter physics. Based on the concept of renormalization, the Landau’s Fermi liquid theory has been able to explain, why despite the presence of Coulomb interactions, the free electron theory works so well for simple metals with extended Fermi surface (FS). The recent synthesis of graphene has provided the condensed matter physicists with a low energy laboratory of Dirac fermions where instead of a FS, one has two Fermi points. Many exciting phenomena in graphene can be successfully interpreted in terms of free Dirac electrons. In this paper, employing dynamical mean field theory (DMFT), we show that an interacting Dirac sea is essentially an effective free Dirac theory. This observation suggests the notion of Dirac liquid as a fixed point of interacting 2 + 1 dimensional Dirac fermions. We find one more fixed point at strong interactions describing a Mott insulating state, and address the nature of semi-metal to insulator (SMIT) transition in this system.     

利用超导量子电路模拟拓扑量子材料

近年来,探索新的拓扑量子材料、研究拓扑材料的新奇物理性质成为凝聚态物理领域的一个热点.但是,由于合成、测量等手段的限制,人们难以在真实材料中实现和观测很多理论预言的材料及其物理性质,促使量子模拟日益成为研究量子多体系统的一个重要手段.作为全固态器件,超导量子电路是一个在扩展性、集成性、调控性上都具有巨大优势的人工量子系统,是实现量子模拟的重要方案.本文总结了利用超导量子电路对时间-空间反演对称性保护的拓扑半金属、Hopf-link半金属和Maxwell半金属等拓扑材料的量子模拟,显示出超导量子电路在模拟凝聚态物理系统方面具有广阔前景.     

Phase-field-crystal models for condensed matter dynamics on atomic length and diffusive time scales: an overview

Here, we review the basic concepts and applications of the phase-field-crystal (PFC) method, which is one of the latest simulation methodologies in materials science for problems, where atomic- and microscales are tightly coupled. The PFC method operates on atomic length and diffusive time scales, and thus constitutes a computationally efficient alternative to molecular simulation methods. Its intense development in materials science started fairly recently following the work by Elder et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88 (2002), p. 245701]. Since these initial studies, dynamical density functional theory and thermodynamic concepts have been linked to the PFC approach to serve as further theoretical fundamentals for the latter. In this review, we summarize these methodological development steps as well as the most important applications of the PFC method with a special focus on the interaction of development steps taken in hard and soft matter physics, respectively. Doing so, we hope to present today's state of the art in PFC modelling as well as the potential, which might still arise from this method in physics and materials science in the nearby future.     

Griffiths phase manifestation in disordered dielectrics

We predict the existence of a Griffiths phase in dielectrics with a concentrational crossover between dipole glass (electric analog of spin glass) and ferroelectricity. Particular representatives of the above substances are KTaO₃:Li, Nb, Na, or relaxor ferroelectrics like Pb_1–xLa_xZr_0.65Ti_0.35O₃. Since this phase exists above the ferroelectric phase-transition temperature (but below that temperature for ordered substances), we call it a “para-glass phase”. We assert that the difference between paraelectric and para-glass phases in the above substances is the existence of clusters (inherent to the “ordinary” Griffiths phase of Ising magnets) of correlated dipoles. We show that randomness plays a decisive role in the Griffiths (para-glass) phase formation: this phase does not exist in a mean field approximation. To investigate the Griffiths phase properties, we calculate the density of Yang-Lee (YL) zeros in the partition function and find that it has “tails” inherent to the Griffiths phase in the above temperature interval. We perform calculations on the basis of our self-consistent equation for the long-range order parameter in an external electric field. This equation has been derived in the framework of the random field theory. The latter automatically incorporates both short-range (due to indirect interaction via transverse optical phonons of the host lattice) and long-range (ordinary dipole-dipole) interactions between impurity dipoles, so that the problem of long-range interaction considerations does not appear in it. Received 17 May 2000