Knots in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate

We show that knots of spin textures can be created in the polar phase of a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate, and discuss experimental schemes for their generation and probe, together with their lifetime.     

Fordy-Kulish model and spinor Bose-Einstein condensate

Abstract

A three-component nonlinear Schrodinger-type model which describes spinor Bose-Einstein condensate ( BEC) is considered. This model is integrable by the inverse scattering method and using Zakharov-Shabat dressing method we obtain three types of soliton solutions. The multi-component nonlinear Schrödinger type models related to symmetric spaces C.I ? Sp(4)/U(2) is studied.     

Coreless vortex formation in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate

Coreless vortices were phase imprinted in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate. The three-component order parameter of F=1 sodium condensates held in a Ioffe-Pritchard magnetic trap was manipulated by adiabatically reducing the magnetic bias field along the trap axis to zero. This distributed the condensate population across its three spin states and created a spin texture. Each spin state acquired a different phase winding which caused the spin components to separate radially.     

Persistent and enhanced spin-nematic squeezing in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate

We propose a simple scheme to realize the persistent spin-nematic squeezing in a spinor Bose–Einstein condensate by rapidly turning-off the external magnetic field at a time that maximal spin-nematic squeezing occurs. We observe that the optimal spin-nematic squeezing can be maintained in a nearly fixed direction. For a proper initial magnetic field, the optimal squeezing can be obviously enhanced. We further construct a spin-mixing interferometer, where the quantum correlation of the squeezed state (generated by our scheme) is fully utilized in the phase measurement, and show the phase sensitivity of the interferometer has a significant enhancement.     

Dynamics of spinor Bose–Einstein condensate subject to dissipation

We investigate the internal dynamics of the spinor Bose–Einstein condensates subject to dissipation by solving the Lindblad master equation. It is shown that for the condensates without dissipation its dynamics always evolve along a specific orbital in the phase space of(n_0, θ) and display three kinds of dynamical properties including Josephson-like oscillation, self-trapping-like oscillation, and ‘running phase'. In contrast, the condensates subject to dissipation will not evolve along the specific dynamical orbital. If component-1 and component-(-1) dissipate at different rates, the magnetization m will not conserve and the system transits between different dynamical regions. The dynamical properties can be exhibited in the phase space of(n_0, θ, m).     

Nonlinear dynamics of a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well potential

We examine the nonlinear dynamical behavior of a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well potential. Considering a condensate with large number of atoms, such that it can be described using the mean field theory, we separate the spinor dynamics from the spatial dynamics under the single-mode approximation. We limit ourselves to certain initial conditions under which the spatial mode is frozen so that we can focus on the spinor dynamics only. Identifying collective spin variables of our system, we derive the corresponding nonlinear equations of motion for them. Employing standard stability analysis, we find and characterize fixed points of the system. For a wide range of physical parameters such as tunneling strength and non-linear interactions, as well as for various initial preparations of the system, we identify qualitatively different dynamical regimes possible in the system. In particular, complete and incomplete oscillations of spin variables between quantum wells are found. We also show that by bringing some fixed points close to each other in the phase space of the system, it is possible to induce amplitude modulation to those otherwise regular tunneling oscillations.     

Quantum phase transition in an antiferromagnetic spinor Bose-Einstein condensate

We have experimentally observed the dynamics of an antiferromagnetic sodium Bose-Einstein condensate quenched through a quantum phase transition. Using an off-resonant microwave field coupling the F = 1 and F = 2 atomic hyperfine levels, we rapidly switched the quadratic energy shift q from positive to negative values. At q = 0, the system undergoes a transition from a polar to antiferromagnetic phase. We measured the dynamical evolution of the population in the F = 1, mF = 0 state in the vicinity of this transition point and observed a mixed state of all 3 hyperfine components for q < 0. We also observed the coarsening dynamics of the instability for q < 0, as it nucleated small domains that grew to the axial size of the cloud.     

光格中旋量玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚的高阶非线性孤子激发

研究了一维光格中旋量玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体的高阶非线性作用下的孤子激发,得出了用椭圆积分表示的明孤子解和特定参数条件下的暗孤子解析解,并求得了能量表达式.     

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.     

Spin current in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate induced by a gradient magnetic field

We develop a research of spin currents in a ²³Na spinor Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) by applying a magnetic field gradient. The spin current is successfully induced by the spin-dependent force arising from the magnetic field gradient. The dynamics of the spin components under the magnetic force is investigated. The study is promising to be extended to produce a longer spin-coherence and to enhance the sensitivity of the spin-mixing interferometry in a spinor BEC.     

偶极-偶极相互作用下双势阱中旋量玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚磁化率的非线性动力学性质

利用平均场理论和单空间模近似，研究了偶极-偶极相互作用下双势阱中总自旋F=1的旋量玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚磁化率的非线性动力学性质.在给定的初态条件下，研究结果表明：当λ_A+2λ_d=0时，凝聚体只表现为磁化振荡行为；当λ_A+2λ_d≠0时，凝聚体既存在磁化振荡行为，又存在磁自陷俘现象. 关键词： 玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚 自旋 磁化率     

大N近似下旋量玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚的基态能级分裂

采用超越单模近似,研究了纯光学势阱中自旋s=1的旋量BEC对单模的模式偏离效应.通过对有效哈密顿量的能量泛函变分,给出了模式偏离修正因子ε,并计算了模式偏离修正因子和分裂能随凝聚体粒子数N的变化关系. 关键词： 玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚 GP泛函 单模近似     

Observation of topologically stable 2D Skyrmions in an antiferromagnetic spinor Bose-Einstein condensate

We present the creation and time evolution of two-dimensional Skyrmion excitations in an antiferromagnetic spinor Bose-Einstein condensate. Using a spin rotation method, the Skyrmion spin textures were imprinted on a sodium condensate in a polar phase, where the two-dimensional Skyrmion is topologically protected. The Skyrmion was observed to be stable on a short time scale of a few tens of ms but to dynamically deform its shape and eventually decay to a uniform spin texture. The deformed spin textures reveal that the decay dynamics involves breaking the polar phase inside the condensate without having topological charge density flow through the boundary of the finite-sized sample. We discuss the possible formation of half-quantum vortices in the deformation process.     

Quantum quenches in a spinor condensate

We discuss the ordering of a spin-1 condensate when quenched from its paramagnetic phase to its ferromagnetic phase by reducing the magnetic field. We first elucidate the nature of the equilibrium quantum phase transition. Quenching rapidly through this transition reveals XY ordering either at a specific wave vector, or the "light-cone" correlations familiar from relativistic theories, depending on the end point of the quench. For a quench proceeding at a finite rate the ordering scale is governed by the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. The creation of vortices through growth of the magnetization fluctuations is also discussed. The long-time dynamics again depends on the end point, conserving the order parameter in a zero field, but not at a finite field, with differing exponents for the coarsening of magnetic order. The results are discussed in the light of a recent experiment by Sadler et al.     

Manipulating a Bose-Einstein condensate with a single photon

We propose a method to create macroscopic superpositions, so-called Schr?dinger cat states, of different motional states of an ideal Bose-Einstein condensate. The scheme is based on the scattering of a freely expanding condensate by the light field of a high-finesse optical cavity in a quantum superposition state of different photon numbers. The atom-photon interaction creates an entangled state of the motional state of the condensate and the photon number, which can be converted into a pure atomic Schr?dinger cat state by operations only acting on the cavity field. We discuss in detail the fully quantised theory and propose an experimental procedure to implement the scheme using short coherent light pulses. Received 26 June 2000 and Received in final form 2nd October 2000     

Chaos in a Bose-Einstein condensate

It is demonstrated that Smale-horseshoe chaos exists in the time evolution of the one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate driven by time-periodic harmonic or inverted-harmonic potential.A formally exact solution of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation is constructed,which describes the matter shock waves with chaotic or periodic amplitudes and phases.     

Quantum phase diffusions of a spinor condensate

We discuss the quantum phases and their diffusion in a spinor-1 atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. For ferromagnetic interactions, we obtain the exact ground state distribution of the phase fluctuations corresponding to the total atom number (N), the magnetization (M), and the alignment (or hypercharge) (Y) of the system. The mean-field ground state is shown to be stable against these fluctuations, which dynamically recover the two continuous symmetries associated with the conservation of N and M as in current experiments.     

Creation of a monopole in a spinor condensate

We propose a method to create a monopole structure in a multicomponent condensate by applying the basic methods used to create vortices and solitons experimentally in single-component condensates. We also show that by using a two-component structure for a monopole, we can avoid many problems related to the previously suggested three-component monopole. We discuss the observation and dynamics of such a monopole structure, and note that the dynamics of the two-component monopole differs from the dynamics of the three-component monopole.     

Spin-orbit coupled spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

An effective spin-orbit coupling can be generated in a cold atom system by engineering atom-light interactions. In this Letter we study spin-1/2 and spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates with Rashba spin-orbit coupling, and find that the condensate wave function will develop nontrivial structures. From numerical simulation we have identified two different phases. In one phase the ground state is a single plane wave, and often we find the system splits into domains and an array of vortices plays the role of a domain wall. In this phase, time-reversal symmetry is broken. In the other phase the condensate wave function is a standing wave, and it forms a spin stripe. The transition between them is driven by interactions between bosons. We also provide an analytical understanding of these results and determine the transition point between the two phases.     

Atom interferometry with a weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate

We demonstrate the operation of an atom interferometer based on a weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate. We strongly reduce the interaction induced decoherence that usually limits interferometers based on trapped condensates by tuning the s-wave scattering length almost to zero via a magnetic Feshbach resonance. We employ a 39K condensate trapped in an optical lattice, where Bloch oscillations are forced by gravity. The fine-tuning of the scattering length down to 0.1 a_(0) and the micrometric sizes of the atomic sample make our system a very promising candidate for measuring forces with high spatial resolution. Our technique can be in principle extended to other measurement schemes opening new possibilities in the field of trapped atom interferometry.