arXiv subjects

Lauriane Chomaz

Publications and source records attributed to Lauriane Chomaz.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Anderson orthogonality scaling in the Rabi-driven heavy Fermi polaron

The Anderson orthogonality catastrophe (AOC) is a paradigmatic many-body phenomenon in which a local perturbation induces a macroscopic response of a Fermi sea. We probe signatures of the AOC by coherently driving heavy Fermi polarons in an ultracold $^6$Li-$^{133}$Cs mixture. We observe a power-law dependence of the measured Rabi frequency on the drive strength, with exponents consistent with AOC predictions. Finite-temperature simulations quantitatively reproduce the observed scaling, indicating that AOC signatures persist beyond the idealized zero-temperature, infinite-mass limit. The damping of the Rabi oscillations provides access to polaron dephasing and reveals a nonmonotonic drive dependence, qualitatively consistent with current theories. Our results establish coherently driven impurities as a versatile probe of quantum many-body dynamics through local coherent control.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2026

The heavy Fermi polaron I: the Lithium-Cesium experiment

We present details of an experimental platform for studying Fermi polarons in a quantum-gas mixture. The system consists of about a thousand bosonic $^{133}$Cs impurities immersed in a deeply degenerate Fermi gas ($T/T_F \sim 0.2$) of approximately $2\times 10^5$ $^6$Li atoms in a single hyperfine state, with interspecies interactions tunable via a Feshbach resonance. Using optical Raman spectroscopy without relative momentum transfer, we perform injection spectroscopy and thereby create the Fermi polaron. Owing to the large mass imbalance between the two species, the setup provides access to previously unexplored regimes of Fermi polarons.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2026

Competing triangular and stripe supersolid orders in a dipolar quantum gas

Supersolids are exotic quantum states in which long-range phase coherence coexists, and may interplay, with emergent spatial orders. A particularly rich phase diagram featuring several competing spatial orders is predicted for dipolar supersolids with two-dimensional crystals, yet the experimental observation of this structural variety has remained limited. Here we experimentally form competing triangular and stripe density-modulated states in a quantum gas of highly magnetic atoms confined in a surfboard-shaped trap by tuning contact interaction strength and dipole orientation. We define a structural order parameter and study its statistical behavior. Thereby, we identify both the triangular and stripe phases and the transition between them, the associated critical behavior being marked by enhanced non-Gaussian fluctuations. Furthermore, we observe each spatial structure in both the phase-coherent supersolid regime and the phase-incoherent insulating one, near and far from the unmodulated-to-modulated transition, respectively. Our results establish a versatile platform in which multiple phases of the two-dimensional-supersolid phase diagram, and more generally, intertwined symmetry-breaking phenomena, can be investigated.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2026

Morphological false-vacuum decay in dipolar supersolids

False-vacuum decay between two morphologically distinct supersolid phases via bubble nucleation is studied in a uniform dipolar gas confined to the plane. Starting from a metastable honeycomb state, the formation of stripe phase domains is simulated numerically by means of a stochastic projected extended Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The speed of bubble growth is analyzed in relation to the multiple speeds of sound of the supersolid, and is found to be set by the slowest of these sounds. The vacuum decay rate is numerically extracted and compared against a minimal effective model for the Coleman bounce solution connecting the two supersolid orders. Our results establish dipolar supersolids as a novel and versatile platform for studying false-vacuum decay. This setting offers a rich structure of metastable states and collective excitations that come into play in the decay. Furthermore, here, in contrast to previous studies, bubble formation occurs directly in the real-space density and can be probed with \textit{in situ} imaging.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2025

Anomalous non-thermal fixed point in a quasi-two-dimensional dipolar Bose gas

The emergence of distinctly sub-diffusive scaling in the vicinity of an anomalous non-thermal fixed point is discussed in a quasi-two-dimensional dipolar Bose gas in the superfluid phase, carrying ensembles of vortices and antivortices with zero net angular momentum. The observed scaling behavior reflects coarsening dynamics driven by the mutual annihilation of vortices and antivortices, with the mean inter-defect distance growing algebraically over time as $\ell_\text{v}(t)\sim t^{\,β}$. A sub-diffusive ($β<1/2$) exponent $β\approx0.2$ is extracted for various parameter regimes, initial conditions, and dipolar configurations from both scaling occupation-number spectra and the evolution of inter-defect distances as well as the corresponding total vortex densities. As vortex-antivortex annihilation progresses, excitations of the background condensate increase. This gives rise to a transition in the scaling behavior at late times, toward a non-thermal fixed point governed by diffusion-type scaling with $β\approx1/2$ as expected for the mutual annihilation of well-separated vortex-antivortex dipoles. While the temporal scaling with $β$ does not depend significantly on the strength and anisotropy of the dipolar interactions and thus underlines the universality of the anomalous as well as diffusion-type non-thermal fixed points, we find distinctly different vortex patterns resulting in the dipolar case. While in the superfluid with contact interactions only, same-sign vortices tend to cluster and form large-scale eddies, in the dipolar and tilted cases, roton excitations appear to prevent such motion, giving rather rise to a maximisation of distances between vortices of either sign.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2025

Kibble-Zurek scaling of the superfluid-supersolid transition in an elongated dipolar gas

We simulate interaction quenches crossing from a superfluid to a supersolid state in a dipolar quantum gas of ${}^{164}\mathrm{Dy}$ atoms, trapped in an elongated tube with periodic boundary conditions, via the extended Gross-Pitaevskii equation. A freeze-out time is observed through a delay in supersolid formation after crossing the critical point. We compute the density-density correlations at the freeze-out time and extract the frozen correlation length for the solid order. An analysis of the freeze-out time and correlation length versus the interaction quench rate allows us to extract universal exponents corresponding to the relaxation time and correlation length based on predictions of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. Over several orders of magnitude, clear power-law scaling is observed for both the freeze-out time and the correlation length, and the corresponding exponents are compatible with predictions based on the excitation spectrum calculated via Bogoliubov theory. Defects due to independent local breaking of translational symmetry, contributing to globally incommensurate supersolid order, are identified, and their number at the freeze-out time is found to also scale as a power law. Our results support the hypothesis of a continuous transition whose universality class remains to be determined but appears to differ from that of the (1+1)D XY model.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2025

Quantum-stabilized states in magnetic dipolar quantum gases

A decade ago, a universal stabilization mechanism driven by quantum fluctuations was discovered in ultracold Bose gases of highly magnetic atoms. This mechanism prevents these systems from collapsing and instead allows exotic states of matter to arise, including ultradilute quantum droplets, crystallized quantum states, and specifically supersolids. We review the experimental and theoretical progress in understanding these quantum-stabilized states, their emergence, and intriguing properties.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2025

Ab initio Complex Langevin computation of the roton gap for a dipolar Bose condensate

We compute from first principles the dispersion relation $ω(k)$ of a dipolar Bose gas of erbium atoms close to the roton instability by employing the Complex Langevin (CL) algorithm. Other than the path integral Monte Carlo algorithm, which samples the quantum mechanical path integral in the $N$-particle basis, CL samples the field-theoretic path integral of interacting bosons and can be evaluated for experimentally realistic atom numbers. We extract the energy of roton excitations as a function of the s-wave scattering length, and compare our results to those from Gross-Pitaevskii theory, with and without quantum fluctuation corrections.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2024

An experimental platform for studying the heteronuclear Efimov effect with an ultracold mixture of $^6$Li and $^{133}$Cs atoms

We present the experimental apparatus enabling the observation of the heteronuclear Efimov effect in an optically trapped ultracold mixture of $^6$Li-$^{133}$Cs with high-resolution control of the interactions. A compact double-species Zeeman slower consisting of four interleaving helical coils allows for a fast-switching between two optimized configurations for either Li or Cs and provides an efficient sequential loading into their respective MOTs. By means of a bichromatic optical trapping scheme based on species-selective trapping we prepare mixtures down to 100 nK of 1$\times$ 10$^4$ Cs atoms and 7$\times$ 10$^3$ Li atoms. Highly stable magnetic fields allow high-resolution atom-loss spectroscopy and enable to resolve splitting in the loss feature of a few tens of milligauss. These features allowed for a detailed study of the Efimov effect.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2024

Effect of trap imperfections on the density of a quasi-two-dimensional uniform dipolar quantum Bose gas

We theoretically investigate the impact of weak static perturbations of a flat potential on the density of a quasi-two-dimensional dipolar Bose gas. {We consider the perturbative effects of potential perturbations at first order and restrict to the mean-field stable regime. We first study cosinusoidal potential perturbations at a given spatial frequency; this allows us to understand the effects of optical lattices as well as of isolated momentum contributions in the Fourier decomposition of an arbitrary potential. We then study potential perturbations characterized by a static white-noise spectrum over a given momentum range; this captures the effects of inherent optical aberrations in setups that create uniform optical dipole traps.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2023

A two-dimensional magneto-optical trap of dysprosium atoms as a compact source for efficient loading of a narrow-line three-dimensional magneto-optical trap

We report on a scheme for loading dysprosium atoms into a narrow-line three-dimensional magneto-optical trap (3D MOT). Our innovative approach replaces the conventional Zeeman slower with a 2D MOT operating on the broad 421-nm line to create a high-flux beam of slow atoms. Even in the absence of a push beam, we demonstrate efficient loading of the 3D MOT, which operates on the narrower 626-nm intercombination line. Adding push beams working at either 421 nm or 626 nm, significant enhancement of the loading rate is achieved. We reach the best performance, with an enhancement factor of $3.6$, using a push beam red-detuned to the 626-nm line. With loading rates greater than $10^8$ atoms/s achieved at a moderate oven reservoir temperature of $800\,^{\circ}$C, our method offers similar or greater performance than Zeeman-slower-based systems. Our 2D-MOT-based approach constitutes a promising first step for state-of-the-art quantum gas experiments with several advantages over the Zeeman-slower-based setup and is readily adaptable to other open-shell lanthanides.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2022

Dipolar physics: A review of experiments with magnetic quantum gases

Since the achievement of quantum degeneracy in gases of chromium atoms in 2004, the experimental investigation of ultracold gases made of highly magnetic atoms has blossomed. The field has yielded the observation of many unprecedented phenomena, in particular those in which long-range and anisotropic dipole-dipole interactions play a crucial role. In this review, we aim to present the aspects of the magnetic quantum-gas platform that make it unique for exploring ultracold and quantum physics as well as to give a thorough overview of experimental achievements.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Birth, life, and death of a dipolar supersolid

In the short time since the first observation of supersolid states of ultracold dipolar atoms, substantial progress has been made in understanding the zero-temperature phase diagram and low-energy excitations of these systems. Less is known, however, about their finite-temperature properties, particularly relevant for supersolids formed by cooling through direct evaporation. Here, we explore this realm by characterizing the evaporative formation and subsequent decay of a dipolar supersolid by combining high-resolution in-trap imaging with time-of-flight observables. As our atomic system cools towards quantum degeneracy, it first undergoes a transition from thermal gas to a crystalline state with the appearance of periodic density modulation. This is followed by a transition to a supersolid state with the emergence of long-range phase coherence. Further, we explore the role of temperature in the development of the modulated state.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Probing the supersolid order via high-energy scattering: analytical relations among response, density modulation, and superfluid fraction

High-energy scattering spectroscopy is a widely-established technique for probing the characteristic properties of complex physical systems. Motivated by the recent observation of long-sought supersolid states in dipolar quantum Bose gases, I investigate the general relationships existing between the density contrast, the superfluid fraction, and the response to a high-energy scattering probe of density-modulated states within a classical-field approach. I focus on the two extreme regimes of "shallow" and "deep" supersolids, which are of particular interest in describing the phase transitions of the supersolid to a uniform superfluid and an incoherent crystal state, respectively. Using relevant Ansätze for the fields of dipolar supersolid states in these regimes, I specify and illustrate the scaling laws relating the three observables. This work was first prompted to develop an intuitive understanding of a concomitant study based on experiments and mean-field numerical simulations. Beyond this specific application, this works provides a simple and general framework to describe density-modulated states, and in particular the intriguing case of supersolids. It describes key properties characterizing the supersolid order and highlights new possibilities for probing such properties based on high-energy scattering response.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Phase coherence in out-of-equilibrium supersolid states of ultracold dipolar atoms

A supersolid is a fascinating phase of matter, combining the global phase coherence of a superfluid with hallmarks of solids, e.g. a spontaneous breaking of the translational symmetry. Recently, states with such counter-intuitive properties have been realized in experiments using ultracold quantum gases with strong dipolar interactions. Here, we investigate the response of a supersolid state to phase excitations which shatter the global phase coherence. After the creation of those excitations, we observe a rapid re-establishment of a global phase coherence, suggesting the presence of a superfluid flow across the whole sample and an efficient dissipation mechanism. We are able to identify a well-defined region where rephasing occurs, indicating the phase boundary between the solid-like and the supersolid phase. Our observations call for the development of theoretical descriptions able to capture the non-equilibrium dynamics in the recently discovered supersolid states of quantum matter.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Observation of Roton Mode Population in a Dipolar Quantum Gas

The concept of a roton, a special kind of elementary excitation, forming a minimum of energy at finite momentum, has been essential to understand the properties of superfluid $^4$He. In quantum liquids, rotons arise from the strong interparticle interactions, whose microscopic description remains debated. In the realm of highly-controllable quantum gases, a roton mode has been predicted to emerge due to magnetic dipole-dipole interactions despite of their weakly-interacting character. This prospect has raised considerable interest; yet roton modes in dipolar quantum gases have remained elusive to observations. Here we report experimental and theoretical studies of the momentum distribution in Bose-Einstein condensates of highly-magnetic erbium atoms, revealing the existence of the long-sought roton mode. By quenching the interactions, we observe the roton appearance of peaks at well-defined momentum. The roton momentum follows the predicted geometrical scaling with the inverse of the confinement length along the magnetisation axis. From the growth of the roton population, we probe the roton softening of the excitation spectrum in time and extract the corresponding imaginary roton gap. Our results provide a further step in the quest towards supersolidity in dipolar quantum gases.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2018

Ground state of an ultracold Fermi gas of tilted dipoles in elongated traps

Many-body dipolar effects in Fermi gases are quite subtle as they energetically compete with the large kinetic energy at and below the Fermi surface (FS). Recently it was experimentally observed that the FS is deformed from a sphere to an ellipsoid due to the presence of the anisotropic and long-range dipole-dipole interaction. Moreover, it was suggested that, when the dipoles are rotated by means of an external field, the FS follows their rotation, thereby keeping the major axis of the momentum-space ellipsoid parallel to the dipoles. Here we generalise a previous Hartree-Fock mean-field theory to systems confined in an elongated triaxial trap with an arbitrary orientation of the dipoles relative to the trap. With this we study for the first time the effects of the dipoles' arbitrary orientation on the ground-state properties of the system. Furthermore, taking into account the geometry of the system, we show how the ellipsoidal FS deformation can be reconstructed, assuming ballistic expansion, from the experimentally measurable real-space aspect ratio after a free expansion. We compare our theoretical results with new experimental data measured with an erbium Fermi gas for various trap parameters and dipole orientations. The observed remarkable agreement demonstrates the ability of our model to capture the full angular dependence of the FS deformation. Moreover, for systems with even higher dipole moment, our theory predicts an additional unexpected effect: the FS does not simply follow rigidly the orientation of the dipoles, but softens showing a change in the aspect ratio depending on the dipoles' orientation relative to the trap geometry, as well as on the trap anisotropy itself. Our theory provides the basis for understanding and interpreting phenomena in which the investigated physics depends on the underlying structure of the FS, such as fermionic pairing and superfluidity.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Emergence of coherence in a uniform quasi-two-dimensional Bose gas

Phase transitions are ubiquitous in our three-dimensional world. By contrast most conventional transitions do not occur in infinite uniform two-dimensional systems because of the increased role of thermal fluctuations. Here we explore the dimensional crossover of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) for a weakly interacting atomic gas confined in a novel quasi-two-dimensional geometry, with a flat in-plane trap bottom. We detect the onset of an extended phase coherence, using velocity distribution measurements and matter-wave interferometry. We relate this coherence to the transverse condensation phenomenon, in which a significant fraction of atoms accumulate in the ground state of the motion perpendicular to the atom plane. We also investigate the dynamical aspects of the transition through the detection of topological defects that are nucleated in a quench cooling of the gas, and we compare our results to the predictions of the Kibble-Zurek theory for the conventional BEC second-order phase transition.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗