arXiv subjects

Giacomo Lamporesi

Publications and source records attributed to Giacomo Lamporesi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Synchronization in rotating supersolids

Synchronization is ubiquitous in nature at various scales and fields. This phenomenon not only offers a window into the intrinsic harmony of complex systems, but also serves as a robust probe for many-body quantum systems. One such system is a supersolid: an exotic state that is simultaneously superfluid and solid. Here, we show that putting a supersolid under rotation leads to a synchronization of the crystal's motion to an external driving frequency triggered by quantum vortex nucleation, revealing the system's dual solid-superfluid response. Benchmarking the theoretical framework against experimental observations, we exploit this model as a novel method to investigate the critical frequency required for vortex nucleation. Our results underscore the utility of synchronization as a powerful probe for quantum systems.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2025

Observation of Temperature Effects on False Vacuum Decay in Atomic Quantum Gases

Temperature plays a crucial role in metastable phenomena, not only by contributing to determine the state (phase) of a system, but also ruling the decay probability to more stable states. Such a situation is encountered in many different physical systems, ranging from chemical reactions to magnetic structures. The characteristic decay timescale is not always straightforward to estimate since it depends on the microscopic details of the system. A paradigmatic example in quantum field theories is the decay of the false vacuum, manifested via the nucleation of bubbles. In this paper, we measure the temperature dependence of the timescale for the false vacuum decay mechanism in an ultracold atomic quantum spin mixture which exhibits ferromagnetic properties. Our results show that the false vacuum decay rate scales with temperature as predicted by the finite-temperature extension of the instanton theory, and confirm atomic systems as an ideal platform where to study out-of-equilibrium field theories.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2024

Quantum mixtures of ultracold gases of neutral atoms

After decades of improvements in cooling techniques of several atomic species and in finding methods for the achievement of stable quantum mixtures, the field is now ready for an extensive use of such a versatile experimental platform for the investigation of a variety of physical problems. Among them, relevant examples are the dynamics of impurities in a quantum gas, the miscibility condition of different gases, the study of exotic topological structures, the interplay between magnetism and superfluidity, the formation of artificial molecules, or new few-body states. We illustrate the differences among possible quantum mixtures, be they homonuclear spin mixtures or heteronuclear ones, and show how they can be exploited to investigate a plethora of topics from the few-body to the many-body regime. In particular, we discuss quantum mixtures of ultracold gases under three different perspectives: systems made of a few atoms of different kinds, single impurities immersed in a host quantum gas, and quantum mixtures of two interacting gases. We restrict the discussion to single harmonic or flat traps, predominantly in a three-dimensional configuration. A selection of results on recent experiments and possible interesting future directions are given.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2024

Progress toward a zero-magnetic-field environment for ultracold-atom experiments

The minimization of the magnetic field plays a crucial role in ultracold gas research. For instance, the contact interaction dominates all the other energy scales in the zero magnetic field limit, giving rise to novel quantum phases of matter. However, lowering magnetic fields well below the mG level is often challenging in ultracold gas experiments. In this article, we apply Landau-Zener spectroscopy to characterize and reduce the magnetic field on an ultracold gas of sodium atoms to a few tens of μG. The lowest magnetic field achieved here opens to observing novel phases of matter with ultracold spinor Bose gases.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2024

Ultracold atomic spin mixtures in ultrastable magnetic field environments

Ultracold atomic spin mixtures develop rich and intriguing magnetic properties when an external radiation coherently couples different spin states. In particular, the coupled mixture may acquire a critical behavior when the spin interactions equal the coupling energy. However, atomic mixtures generally feature a relatively high sensitivity to magnetic fields that can set a limitation to the observable phenomena. In this article, we present an overview of experimental studies of magnetism based on superfluid multicomponent gases in an ultrastable magnetic field environment, which recently became available.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2023

Vortices in dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates

Quantized vortices are the hallmark of superfluidity, and are often sought out as the first observable feature in new superfluid systems. Following the recent experimental observation of vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates comprised of atoms with inherent long-range dipole-dipole interactions [Nat. Phys. 18, 1453-1458 (2022)], we thoroughly investigate vortex properties in the three-dimensional dominantly dipolar regime, where beyond-mean-field effects are crucial for stability, and investigate the interplay between trap geometry and magnetic field tilt angle.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2023

Two-component spin mixtures

The high degree of control on ultracold gases allows us to precisely manipulate their internal state. When the gas is made of atoms in two different internal states, it can be considered as a two-component spin mixture. Below a critical temperature, the gas becomes a superfluid mixture, never realized before with any other platform, and therefore interesting to study per se, but it also constitutes a promising and versatile platform for applications in spintronic devices or to study phenomena belonging to very different fields, such as magnetism, high-energy physics or gravitation. Here, I will revisit ground-state properties and excitations of a binary bosonic superfluid, and then introduce a coherent coupling between the states and treat the global state of the atoms as a spin in the presence of a variable external field.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2023

Quantum-torque-induced breaking of magnetic interfaces in ultracold gases

A rich variety of physical effects in spin dynamics arises at the interface between different magnetic materials. Engineered systems with interlaced magnetic structures have been used to implement spin transistors, memories and other spintronic devices. However, experiments in solid state systems can be difficult to interpret because of disorder and losses. Here, we realize analogues of magnetic junctions using a coherently-coupled mixture of ultracold bosonic gases. The spatial inhomogeneity of the atomic gas makes the system change its behavior from regions with oscillating magnetization -- resembling a magnetic material in the presence of an external transverse field -- to regions with a defined magnetization, as in magnetic materials with a ferromagnetic anisotropy stronger than external fields. Starting from a far-from-equilibrium fully polarized state, magnetic interfaces rapidly form. At the interfaces, we observe the formation of short-wavelength magnetic waves. They are generated by a quantum torque contribution to the spin current and produce strong spatial anticorrelations in the magnetization. Our results establish ultracold gases as a platform for the study of far-from-equilibrium spin dynamics in regimes that are not easily accessible in solid-state systems.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2023

Observation of false vacuum decay via bubble formation in ferromagnetic superfluids

In quantum field theory, the decay of an extended metastable state into the real ground state is known as ``false vacuum decay'' and it takes place via the nucleation of spatially localized bubbles. Despite the large theoretical effort to estimate the nucleation rate, experimental observations were still missing. Here, we observe bubble nucleation in isolated and highly controllable superfluid atomic systems, and we find good agreement between our results, numerical simulations and instanton theory opening the way to the emulation of out-of-equilibrium quantum field phenomena in atomic systems.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Ferromagnetism in an extended coherently-coupled atomic superfluid

Ferromagnetism is an iconic example of a first-order phase transition taking place in spatially extended systems and is characterized by hysteresis and the formation of domain walls. In this paper we demonstrate that an extended atomic superfluid in the presence of a coherent coupling between two internal states exhibits a quantum phase transition from a para- to a ferromagnetic state. The nature of the transition is experimentally assessed by looking at the phase diagram as a function of the control parameters, at hysteresis phenomena, at the magnetic susceptibility and the magnetization fluctuations around the critical point. We show that the observed features are in good agreement with mean-field calculations. Additionally, we develop experimental protocols to deterministically generate domain walls that separate spatial regions of opposite magnetization in the ferromagnetic state. Thanks to the enhanced coherence properties of our atomic superfluid system compared to standard condensed matter systems, our results open the way towards the study of different aspects of the relaxation dynamics in isolated coherent many-body quantum systems.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2022

Mass-driven vortex collisions in flat superfluids

Quantum vortices are often endowed with an effective inertial mass, due, for example, to massive particles in their cores. Such "massive vortices" display new phenomena beyond the standard picture of superfluid vortex dynamics, where the mass is neglected. In this work, we demonstrate that massive vortices are allowed to collide, as opposed to their massless counterparts. We propose a scheme to generate controllable, repeatable, deterministic collisional events in pairs of quantum vortices. We demonstrate two mass-driven fundamental processes: (i) the annihilation of two counter-rotating vortices and (ii) the merging of two co-rotating vortices, thus pointing out new mechanisms supporting incompressible-to-compressible kinetic energy conversion, as well as doubly-quantized vortices stabilization in flat superfluids.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2022

Observation of vortices and vortex stripes in a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate

Quantized vortices are the prototypical feature of superfluidity. Pervasive in all natural systems, vortices are yet to be observed in dipolar quantum gases. Here, we exploit the anisotropic nature of the dipole-dipole interaction of a dysprosium Bose-Einstein condensate to induce angular symmetry breaking in an otherwise cylindrically symmetric pancake-shaped trap. Tilting the magnetic field towards the radial plane deforms the cloud into an ellipsoid through magnetostriction, which is then set into rotation. At stirring frequencies approaching the radial trap frequency, we observe the generation of dynamically unstable surface excitations, which cause angular momentum to be pumped into the system through vortices. Under continuous rotation, the vortices arrange into a stripe configuration along the field--in close corroboration with simulations--realizing a long sought-after prediction for dipolar vortices.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2022

Observation of Massless and Massive Collective Excitations with Faraday Patterns in a Two-Component Superfluid

We report on the experimental measurement of the dispersion relation of the density and spin collective excitation modes in an elongated two-component superfluid of ultracold bosonic atoms. Our parametric spectroscopic technique is based on the external modulation of the transverse confinement frequency, leading to the formation of density and spin Faraday waves. We show that the application of a coherent coupling between the two components reduces the phase symmetry and gives a finite mass to the spin modes.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Design and characterisation of a compact magnetic shield for ultracold atomic gas experiments

We report on the design, construction, and performance of a compact magnetic shield that facilitates a controlled, low-noise environment for experiments with ultracold atomic gases. The shield was designed to passively attenuate external slowly-varying magnetic fields while allowing for ample optical access. The geometry, number of layers and choice of materials were optimised using extensive finite-element numerical simulations. The measured performance of the shield is in good agreement with the simulations. From measurements of the spin coherence of an ultracold atomic ensemble we demonstrate a remnant field noise of 2.6 microGauss and a suppression of external dc magnetic fields by more than five orders of magnitude.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Optical visibility and core structure of vortex filaments in a bosonic superfluid

We use optical images of a superfluid consisting of a weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate of sodium atoms to investigate the structure of quantized three-dimensional vortex filaments. We find that the measured optical contrast and the width of the vortex core quantitatively agree with the predictions of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2018

Production of large Bose-Einstein condensates in a magnetic-shield-compatible hybrid trap

We describe the production of large ${}^{23} \mathrm{Na}$ Bose-Einstein condensates in a hybrid trap characterized by a weak magnetic field quadrupole and a tightly focused infrared beam. The use of small magnetic field gradients makes the trap compatible with the state-of-the-art magnetic shields. By taking advantage of the deep cooling and high efficiency of gray molasses to improve the initial trap loading conditions, we produce condensates composed of as much as $7$ million atoms in less than $30 \; \mathrm{s}$.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Vortex reconnections and rebounds in trapped atomic Bose--Einstein condensates

Reconnections and interactions of filamentary coherent structures play a fundamental role in the dynamics of fluids, plasmas and nematic liquid crystals. In fluids, vortex reconnections redistribute energy and helicity among the length scales and induce fine-scale turbulent mixing. Unlike ordinary fluids where vorticity is a continuous field, in quantum fluids vorticity is concentrated into discrete (quantized) vortex lines turning vortex reconnections into isolated events, making it conceptually easier to study. Here we report experimental and numerical observations of three-dimensional quantum vortex interactions in a cigar-shaped atomic Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC). In addition to standard reconnections, already numerically and experimentally observed in homogeneous systems away from boundaries, we show that double reconnections, rebounds and ejections can also occur as a consequence of the non-homogeneous, confined nature of the system.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2016

Spin-Dipole Oscillation and Polarizability of a Binary Bose-Einstein Condensate near the Miscible-Immiscible Phase Transition

We report on the measurement of the spin-dipole (SD) polarizability and of the frequency of the SD oscillation of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate of sodium atoms occupying the $|3^2S_{1/2}, F=1, m_F=\pm1\rangle$ hyperfine states. This binary spin-mixture presents the important properties of being, at the same time, fully miscible and rid of the limit set by buoyancy. It is also characterized by a huge enhancement of the SD polarizability and by the consequent softening of the frequency of the SD oscillation, due to the vicinity to the transition to the immiscible phase. The experimental data are successfully compared with the predictions of theory.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗