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Gevorg Martirosyan

Publications and source records attributed to Gevorg Martirosyan.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

Weak wave turbulence as a precursor to universal coarsening in a homogeneous Bose gas

Relaxation and condensation of an isolated low-energy Bose gas provide an ideal setting for the study of the universal features of far-from-equilibrium many-body dynamics and the emergence of long-range order. Conceptually, the emergence of such order involves two steps: the formation of local coherence, on a system-specific microscopic lengthscale, and the spreading of coherence, over lengthscales much larger than any microscopic scale. The latter is understood in terms of universal phase-ordering kinetics, or coarsening, characterized by an algebraic growth of the coherence length. Here, for a homogeneous Bose gas with tunable interactions, we show that the former also has a universal description, within the framework of weak wave turbulence (WWT). Specifically, the initial transport of particles to low momenta corresponds to an inverse turbulent cascade that is, in agreement with the WWT theory, characterized by a power-law momentum distribution, with exponent $γ= 2.4(1)$, and transport times ${\propto} (na)^{-2}$, where $n$ is the gas density and $a$ the $s$-wave scattering length.

cond-mat.quant-gas

An Equation of State for Turbulence in the Gross-Pitaevskii model

We report the numerical observation of a far-from-equilibrium equation of state (EOS) in the Gross-Pitaevskii model. We first show that the momentum distribution of the turbulent cascade is well described by wave-turbulent kinetic theory in the appropriate limits. Calculating the energy and particle fluxes $Π_\varepsilon(k)$ and $Π_N(k)$, we show that the turbulent state possesses the hallmarks of a direct energy cascade. Building on this, we show that the GP model encodes a universal EOS in the form of a relationship between the turbulent cascade's momentum distribution amplitude $n_0$ and the energy flux $ε$ in the steady state. We find that in our regime of `mixed' turbulence - where both vortices and waves play a significant role - $n_0\propto ε^{0.67(2)}$, a result that is not captured by any existing theory of turbulence but that agrees with a recent experimental measurement for large energy fluxes. Finally, we find that the concept of quasi-static thermodynamic processes between equilibrium states extends to far-from-equilibrium steady states.

cond-mat.quant-gas

A universal speed limit for spreading of coherence

Discoveries of fundamental limits for the rates of physical processes, from the speed of light to the Lieb-Robinson bound for information propagation, often lead to breakthroughs in the our understanding of the underlying physics. Here we observe such a limit for a paradigmatic many-body phenomenon, the spreading of coherence during formation of a weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate. We study condensate formation in an isolated homogeneous atomic gas that is initially far from equilibrium, in an incoherent low-energy state, and condenses as it relaxes towards equilibrium. Tuning the inter-atomic interactions that drive condensation, we show that the spreading of coherence through the system is initially slower for weaker interactions, and faster for stronger ones, but always eventually reaches the same limit, where the square of the coherence length grows at a universal rate given by the ratio of Planck's constant and the particle mass, or equivalently by the quantum of velocity circulation associated with a quantum vortex. These observations are robust to changes in the initial state, the gas density, and the system size. Our results provide benchmarks for theories of universality far from equilibrium, are relevant for quantum technologies that rely on large-scale coherence, and invite similar measurements in other systems.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Fate of an impurity strongly interacting with a thermal Bose gas

We spectroscopically study mobile impurities immersed in a homogeneous bosonic bath (a box-trapped Bose gas), varying the bath temperature and the strength of impurity-bath interactions. We compare our results to those for a quasipure Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), and find that for strong impurity-bath interactions, the spectra narrow with increasing temperature, while the impurity energy shift is suppressed. Near the critical temperature for condensation, many-body effects still play an important role, and only for a nondegenerate bath, the system approaches the classical Boltzmann-gas behavior. The key spectral features are reproduced within the theory of an ideal Bose polaron.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Joule expansion of a quantum gas

We revisit the classic Joule-expansion experiments, now with a quantum-degenerate atomic Bose gas. In contrast to the classical-gas experiments, where no temperature change was measured, here we observe and quantitatively explain both cooling and heating effects, which arise, respectively, due to quantum statistics and inter-particle interactions.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Universal quantum dynamics of Bose polarons

Predicting the emergent properties of impurities immersed in a quantum bath is a fundamental challenge that can defy quasiparticle treatments. Here, we measure the spectral properties and real-time dynamics of mobile impurities injected into a weakly interacting homogeneous Bose-Einstein condensate, using two broad Feshbach resonances to tune both the impurity-bath and intrabath interactions. For attractive impurity-bath interactions, the impurity spectrum features a single branch, which away from the resonance corresponds to a well-defined attractive polaron; near the resonance we observe dramatic broadening of this branch, suggesting a breakdown of the quasiparticle picture. For repulsive impurity-bath interactions, the spectrum features two branches: the attractive branch that is dominated by excitations with energy close to that of the Feshbach dimer, but has a many-body character, and the repulsive polaron branch. Our measurements show that the behavior of impurities in weakly interacting baths is remarkably universal, controlled only by the bath density and a single dimensionless interaction parameter.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Scaling Laws Governing the Collapse of a Bose-Einstein Condensate

We study the collapse of an attractive Bose-Einstein condensate, where an unstable system evolves towards a singularity, by numerically solving the underlying cubic-quintic nonlinear Schrödinger equation. We find good agreement between our simulations and the atom-loss measurements with a $^{39}$K condensate. Our simulations reveal an interplay of weak collapse and the propensity of the system to form a hotspot, and we uncover new scaling laws that govern this behavior. We also identify promising signatures of the theoretically predicted, but so far experimentally elusive, elastic three-body interactions.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Observation of subdiffusive dynamic scaling in a driven and disordered Bose gas

We explore the dynamics of a tuneable box-trapped Bose gas under strong periodic forcing in the presence of weak disorder. In absence of interparticle interactions, the interplay of the drive and disorder results in an isotropic nonthermal momentum distribution that shows subdiffusive dynamic scaling, with sublinear energy growth and the universal scaling function captured well by a compressed exponential. We explain that this subdiffusion in momentum space can naturally be understood as a random walk in energy space. We also experimentally show that for increasing interaction strength, the gas behavior smoothly crosses over to wave turbulence characterized by a power-law momentum distribution, which opens new possibilities for systematic studies of the interplay of disorder and interactions in driven quantum systems.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Energy-space random walk in a driven disordered Bose gas

Motivated by the experimental observation [1] that driving a non-interacting Bose gas in a 3D box with weak disorder leads to power-law energy growth, $E \propto t^η$ with $η=0.46(2)$, and compressed-exponential momentum distributions that show dynamic scaling, we perform systematic numerical and analytical studies of this system. Schrödinger-equation simulations reveal a crossover from $η\approx 0.5$ to $η\approx 0.4$ with increasing disorder strength, hinting at the existence of two different dynamical regimes. We present a semi-classical model that captures the simulation results and allows an understanding of the dynamics in terms of an energy-space random walk, from which a crossover from $E \propto t^{1/2}$ to $E \propto t^{2/5}$ scaling is analytically obtained. The two limits correspond to the random walk being limited by the rate of the elastic disorder-induced scattering or the rate at which the drive can change the system's energy. Our results provide the theoretical foundation for further experiments.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Universal equation of state for wave turbulence in a quantum gas

Boyle's 1662 observation that the volume of a gas is, at constant temperature, inversely proportional to pressure, offered a prototypical example of how an equation of state (EoS) can succinctly capture key properties of a many-particle system. Such relations are now cornerstones of equilibrium thermodynamics. Extending thermodynamic concepts to far-from-equilibrium systems is of great interest in various contexts including glasses, active matter, and turbulence, but is in general an open problem. Here, using a homogeneous ultracold atomic Bose gas, we experimentally construct an EoS for a turbulent cascade of matter waves. Under continuous forcing at a large length scale and dissipation at a small one, the gas exhibits a non-thermal, but stationary state, which is characterised by a power-law momentum distribution sustained by a scale-invariant momentum-space energy flux. We establish the amplitude of the momentum distribution and the underlying energy flux as equilibrium-like state variables, related by an EoS that does not depend on the details of the energy injection or dissipation, or the history of the system. Moreover, we show that the equations of state for a wide range of interaction strengths and gas densities can be empirically scaled onto each other. This results in a universal dimensionless EoS that sets benchmarks for the theory and should also be relevant for other turbulent systems.

cond-mat.quant-gas

Pinpointing Feshbach Resonances and Testing Efimov Universalities in $^{39}$K

Using a combination of bound-state spectroscopy and loss spectroscopy, we pinpoint eight intrastate Feshbach resonances in $^{39}$K, as well as six previously unexplored interstate ones. We also perform a detailed characterization of four of the intrastate resonances and two of the interstate ones. We carry out coupled-channel scattering calculations and find good agreement with experiment. The combination of experiment and theory provides a faithful map of the scattering length $a$ and permits precision measurements of the signatures of Efimov physics across four intermediate-strength resonances. We measure the modulation of the $a^4$ scaling of the three-body loss coefficient for both $a<0$ and $a>0$, as well as the many-body loss dynamics at unitarity (where $a$ diverges). The absolute positions of the observed Efimov features confirm a ubiquitous breakdown of Efimov--van-der-Waals universality in $^{39}$K, while their relative positions are in agreement with the universal Efimov ratios. The loss dynamics at the three broadest Feshbach resonances are universal within experimental uncertainties, consistent with observing little variation in the Efimov width parameters.

cond-mat.quant-gas