Search arXivSearch

arXiv · 1501.01164

Spontaneous symmetry breaking in a spin-orbit coupled $f=2$ spinor condensate

Abstract

We study the ground-state density profile of a spin-orbit coupled $f=2$ spinor condensate in a quasi-one-dimensional trap. The Hamiltonian of the system is invariant under time reversal but not under parity. We identify different parity- and time-reversal-symmetry-breaking states. The time-reversal-symmetry breaking is possible for degenerate states. A phase separation among densities of different components is possible in the domain of time-reversal-symmetry breaking. Different types of parity- and time-reversal-symmetry-breaking states are predicted analytically and studied numerically. We employ numerical and approximate analytic solutions of a mean-field model in this investigation to illustrate our findings.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Sandeep Gautam, S. K. Adhikari. 2015-01-06. Spontaneous symmetry breaking in a spin-orbit coupled $f=2$ spinor condensate. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.91.013624

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Limit of Spin Squeezing in Finite Temperature Bose-Einstein Condensates

We show that, at finite temperature, the maximum spin squeezing achievable using interactions in Bose-Einstein condensates has a finite limit when the atom number $N\to \infty$ at fixed density and interaction strength. We calculate the limit of the squeezing parameter for a spatially homogeneous system and show that it is bounded from above by the initial non-condensed fraction.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Quantum fields in a cold atomic simulator: relaxation and phase locking in tunnel-coupled 1D bosonic quasi-condensates

We consider a prime example of simulating interacting relativistic QFT with cold atoms: the realisation of the sine-Gordon model by tunnel-coupled quasi-1D Bose gases. While experiments have shown that it can realise the sine-Gordon model in equilibrium, studies of non-equilibrium dynamics have revealed phase-locking behaviour that contrasts with predictions from sine-Gordon field theory. Here, we examine a one-dimensional field-theoretic model of the system and find that the phase-locking behaviour can be understood in terms of the longitudinal harmonic trap, and that the additional degrees of freedom observed in the experiment do not appear to play a significant role. Therefore, the experimental setup provides a good simulator of the sine-Gordon quantum field theory, even out of equilibrium, if the inhomogeneous background induced by the trap is taken into account. Furthermore, our results support the idea that modifying the longitudinal trap to a box shape should result in agreement with standard sine-Gordon dynamics. The main remaining open issues are accounting for 3D corrections and modelling the effect of the boundaries.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Supersolid crystals of dipolar excitons in a lattice

In condensed-matter physics, long-range correlations introduce quantum states of matter that challenge intuition. For example, supersolids combine density order that manifests as symmetry-breaking spatial arrangement, and frictionless superfluid flow. However, supersolids have proven to only exist under very stringent conditions, with evidence limited to a few spontaneously fragmented superfluids observed in the weakly-interacting regime. Here, we demonstrate a framework to realize crystalline supersolids in the strong interaction regime, by confining dipolar bosons in a lattice with long-range hopping. We show that dipolar excitons realize this lattice model. At fractional lattice fillings of one quarter, one third and one half we observe mesoscopic quantum crystals across around 100 sites that spontaneously break the lattice translational symmetry. At the same time, coherent long-range hopping induces off-diagonal long-range order such that the exciton solids are superfluids. Our numerical methods quantitatively confirm that supersolidity builds up in the ground-state of the lattice Hamiltonian.

cond-mat.quant-gas