arXiv subjects

M. Inguscio

Publications and source records attributed to M. Inguscio.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2023

Connecting shear-flow and vortex array instabilities in annular atomic superfluids

At the interface between two fluid layers in relative motion, infinitesimal fluctuations can be exponentially amplified, inducing vorticity and the breakdown of the laminar flow. This process, known as the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, is responsible for many familiar phenomena observed in the atmosphere and in the oceans, as well as in astrophysical objects, being known as one of the paradigmatic routes to turbulence in fluid mechanics. While shear-flow instabilities in classical fluids have been extensively observed in various contexts, controlled experiments in the presence of quantized circulation are comparatively very few. Here, we engineer two counter-rotating atomic superflows, a configuration that in classical inviscid fluids is unstable via the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. We observe how the contact interface, i.e. the shear layer, develops into an ordered circular array of quantized vortices, which loses stability and rolls up into vortex clusters. We extract the instability growth rates and find that they obey the same scaling relations across different superfluid regimes, ranging from weakly-interacting bosonic to strongly-correlated fermionic pair condensates. The measured scalings, reproduced by numerical simulations and well described by a microscopic point-vortex model, are consistent with the classical hydrodynamic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of a finite-width shear layer. Our results establish interesting connections between vortex arrays and shear-flow instabilities, suggesting a possible interpretation of the observed quantized vortex dynamics as a manifestation of the underlying unstable flow. Moreover, they open the way for exploring a wealth of out-of-equilibrium phenomena, from vortex-matter phase transitions to the spontaneous emergence and decay of two-dimensional quantum turbulence.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2022

Double-degenerate Fermi mixtures of $^6$Li and $^{53}$Cr atoms

We report on the realization of a novel degenerate mixture of ultracold fermionic lithium and chromium atoms. Based on an all-optical approach, with an overall duty-cycle of about 13 seconds, we produce large and degenerate samples of more than 2$\times 10^5$ $^6$Li atoms and $10^5$ $^{53}$Cr atoms, with both species exhibiting normalized temperatures of about $T/T_{F}$=0.25. Additionally, through the exploitation of a crossed bichromatic optical dipole trap, we can controllably vary the density and degree of degeneracy of the two components almost independently, and widely tune the lithium-to-chromium density ratio. Our $^{6}$Li-$^{53}$Cr Fermi mixture opens the way to the investigation of a variety of exotic few- and many-body regimes of quantum matter, and it appears as an optimally-suited system to realize ultracold paramagnetic polar molecules, characterized by both electric and magnetic dipole moments. Ultimately, our strategy also provides an efficient pathway to produce dipolar Fermi gases, or spin-mixtures, of ultracold $^{53}$Cr atoms.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2022

Observation of Universal Hall Response in Strongly Interacting Fermions

The Hall effect, which originates from the motion of charged particles in magnetic fields, has deep consequences for the description of materials, extending far beyond condensed matter. Understanding such an effect in interacting systems represents a fundamental challenge, even for small magnetic fields. In this work, we used an atomic quantum simulator in which we tracked the motion of ultracold fermions in two-leg ribbons threaded by artificial magnetic fields. Through controllable quench dynamics, we measured the Hall response for a range of synthetic tunneling and atomic interaction strengths. We unveil a universal interaction-independent behavior above an interaction threshold, in agreement with theoretical analyses. The ability to reach hard-to-compute regimes demonstrates the power of quantum simulation to describe strongly correlated topological states of matter.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2022

Imprinting persistent currents in tunable fermionic rings

Persistent currents in annular geometries have played an important role in disclosing the quantum phase coherence of superconductors and mesoscopic electronic systems. Ultracold atomic gases in multiply connected traps also exhibit long-lived supercurrents, and have attracted much interest both for fundamental studies of superfluid dynamics and as prototypes for atomtronic circuits. Here, we report on the realization of supercurrents in homogeneous, tunable fermionic rings. We gain exquisite, rapid control over quantized persistent currents in all regimes of the BCS-BEC crossover through a universal phase-imprinting technique, attaining on-demand circulations $w$ as high as 9. High-fidelity read-out of the superfluid circulation state is achieved by exploiting an interferometric protocol, which also yields local information about the superfluid phase around the ring. In the absence of externally introduced perturbations, we find the induced metastable supercurrents to be as long-lived as the atomic sample. Conversely, we trigger and inspect the supercurrent decay by inserting a single small obstacle within the ring. For circulations higher than a critical value, the quantized current is observed to dissipate via the emission of vortices, i.e., quantized phase slips, which we directly image, in good agreement with numerical simulations. The critical circulation at which the superflow becomes unstable is found to depend starkly on the interaction strength, taking its maximum value for the unitary Fermi gas. Our results demonstrate fast and accurate control of quantized collective excitations in a macroscopic quantum system, and establish strongly interacting fermionic superfluids as excellent candidates for atomtronic applications.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2022

Exploring ultracold collisions in $^6$Li-$^{53}$Cr Fermi mixtures: Feshbach resonances and scattering properties of a novel alkali-transition metal system

We investigate ultracold collisions in a novel mixture of $^6$Li and $^{53}$Cr fermionic atoms, discovering more than 50 interspecies Feshbach resonances via loss spectroscopy. Building a full coupled-channel model, we unambiguously characterize the $^{6}$Li-$^{53}$Cr scattering properties and yield predictions for other isotopic pairs. In particular, we identify various Feshbach resonances that enable the controlled tuning of elastic $s$- and $p$-wave $^{6}$Li-$^{53}$Cr interactions. Our studies thus make lithium-chromium mixtures emerge as optimally-suited platforms for the experimental search of elusive few- and many-body regimes of highly-correlated fermionic matter, and for the realization of a new class of ultracold polar molecules possessing both electric and magnetic dipole moments.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Strongly correlated superfluid order parameters from dc Josephson supercurrents

The dc Josephson effect provides a powerful phase-sensitive tool for investigating superfluid order parameters. We report on the observation of dc Josephson supercurrents in strongly interacting fermionic superfluids across a tunnelling barrier in the absence of any applied potential difference. For sufficiently strong barriers, we observe a sinusoidal current-phase relation, in agreement with Josephson's seminal prediction. We map out the zero-resistance state and its breakdown as a function of junction parameters, extracting the Josephson critical current behaviour. By comparing our results with an analytic model, we determine the pair condensate fraction throughout the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer - Bose-Einstein Condensation crossover. Our work suggests that coherent Josephson transport may be used to pin down superfluid order parameters in diverse atomic systems, even in the presence of strong correlations.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Sound emission and annihilations in a programmable quantum vortex collider

In quantum fluids, the quantisation of circulation forbids the diffusion of a vortex swirling flow seen in classical viscous fluids. Yet, a quantum vortex accelerating in a superfluid may lose its energy into acoustic radiation, in a similar way an electric charge decelerates upon emitting photons. The dissipation of vortex energy underlies central problems in quantum hydrodynamics, such as the decay of quantum turbulence, highly relevant to systems as varied as neutron stars, superfluid helium and atomic condensates. A deep understanding of the elementary mechanisms behind irreversible vortex dynamics has been a goal for decades, but it is complicated by the shortage of conclusive experimental signatures. Here, we address this challenge by realising a programmable quantum vortex collider in a planar, homogeneous atomic Fermi superfluid with tunable inter-particle interactions. We create on-demand vortex configurations and monitor their evolution, taking advantage of the accessible time and length scales of our ultracold Fermi gas. Engineering collisions within and between vortex-antivortex pairs allows us to decouple relaxation of the vortex energy due to sound emission and interactions with normal fluid, i.e. mutual friction. We directly visualise how the annihilation of vortex dipoles radiates a sound pulse in the superfluid. Further, our few-vortex experiments extending across different superfluid regimes suggest that fermionic quasiparticles localised inside the vortex core contribute significantly to dissipation, opening the route to exploring new pathways for quantum turbulence decay, vortex by vortex.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Spatial Bloch oscillations of a quantum gas in a "beat-note" superlattice

We report the experimental realization of a new kind of optical lattice for ultra-cold atoms where arbitrarily large separation between the sites can be achieved without renouncing to the stability of ordinary lattices. Two collinear lasers, with slightly different commensurate wavelengths and retroreflected on a mirror, generate a superlattice potential with a periodic "beat-note" profile where the regions with large amplitude modulation provide the effective potential minima for the atoms. To prove the analogy with a standard large spacing optical lattice we study Bloch oscillations of a Bose Einstein condensate with negligible interactions in the presence of a small force. The observed dynamics between sites separated by ten microns for times exceeding one second proves the high stability of the potential. This novel lattice is the ideal candidate for the coherent manipulation of atomic samples at large spatial separations and might find direct application in atom-based technologies like trapped atom interferometers and quantum simulators.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Critical transport and vortex dynamics in a thin atomic Josephson junction

We study the onset of dissipation in an atomic Josephson junction between Fermi superfluids in the molecular Bose-Einstein condensation limit of strong attraction. Our simulations identify the critical population imbalance and the maximum Josephson current delimiting dissipationless and dissipative transport, in quantitative agreement with recent experiments. We unambiguously link dissipation to vortex ring nucleation and dynamics, demonstrating that quantum phase slips are responsible for the observed resistive current. Our work directly connects microscopic features with macroscopic dissipative transport, providing a comprehensive description of vortex ring dynamics in three-dimensional inhomogeneous constricted superfluids at zero and finite temperatures.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Exploring emergent heterogeneous phases in strongly repulsive Fermi gases

Recent experiments have revitalized the interest in a Fermi gas of ultracold atoms with strong repulsive interactions. In spite of its seeming simplicity, this system exhibits a complex behavior, resulting from the competing action of two distinct instabilities: ferromagnetism, which promotes spin anticorrelations and domain formation; and pairing, that renders the repulsive fermionic atoms unstable towards forming weakly bound bosonic molecules. The breakdown of the homogeneous repulsive Fermi liquid arising from such concurrent mechanisms has been recently observed in real time through pump-probe spectroscopic techniques [A. Amico et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 253602 (2018)]. These studies also lead to the discovery of an emergent metastable many-body state, an unpredicted quantum emulsion of anticorrelated fermions and pairs. Here, we investigate in detail the properties of such an exotic regime by studying the evolution of kinetic and release energies, the spectral response and coherence of the unpaired fermionic population, and its spin-density noise correlations. All our observations consistently point to a low-temperature heterogeneous phase, where paired and unpaired fermions macroscopically coexist while featuring micro-scale phase separation. Our findings open new appealing avenues for the exploration of quantum emulsions and also possibly of inhomogeneous superfluid regimes, where pair condensation may coexist with magnetic order.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Dysprosium dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate with broad Feshbach resonances

We produce Bose-Einstein condensates of $^{162}$Dy atoms employing an innovative technique based on a resonator-enhanced optical trap that allows efficient loading from the magneto-optical trap and fast evaporation. We characterize the scattering properties of the ultracold atoms for magnetic fields between 6 and 30 G. In addition to the typical chaotic distribution of narrow Feshbach resonances in Lanthanides, we discover two rather isolated broad features at around 22 G and 27 G. A characterization using the complementary measurements of losses, thermalization, anisotropic expansion and molecular binding energy points towards resonances of predominant s-wave character. Such resonances will ease the investigation of quantum phenomena relying on the interplay between dipole and contact interactions.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2018

Time-resolved observation of competing attractive and repulsive short-range correlations in strongly interacting Fermi gases

We exploit a time-resolved pump-probe spectroscopic technique to study the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of an ultracold two-component Fermi gas, selectively quenched to strong repulsion along the upper branch of a broad Feshbach resonance. For critical interactions, we find the rapid growth of short-range anti-correlations between repulsive fermions to initially overcome concurrent pairing processes. At longer evolution times, these two competing mechanisms appear to macroscopically coexist in a short-range correlated state of fermions and pairs, unforeseen thus far. Our work provides fundamental insights into the fate of a repulsive Fermi gas, and offers new perspectives towards the exploration of complex dynamical regimes of fermionic matter.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2018

Coherent Manipulation of Orbital Feshbach Molecules of Two-Electron Atoms

Ultracold molecules have experienced increasing attention in recent years. Compared to ultracold atoms, they possess several unique properties that make them perfect candidates for the implementation of new quantum-technological applications in several fields, from quantum simulation to quantum sensing and metrology. In particular, ultracold molecules of two-electron atoms (such as strontium or ytterbium) also inherit the peculiar properties of these atomic species, above all the possibility to access metastable electronic states via direct excitation on optical clock transitions with ultimate sensitivity and accuracy. In this paper we report on the production and coherent manipulation of molecular bound states of two fermionic $^{173}$Yb atoms in different electronic (orbital) states $^1$S$_0$ and $^3$P$_0$ in proximity of a scattering resonance involving atoms in different spin and electronic states, called orbital Feshbach resonance. We demonstrate that orbital molecules can be coherently photoassociated starting from a gas of ground-state atoms in a three-dimensional optical lattices by observing several photoassociation and photodissociation cycles. We also show the possibility to coherently control the molecular internal state by using Raman-assisted transfer to swap the nuclear spin of one of the atoms forming the molecule, thus demonstrating a powerful manipulation and detection tool of these molecular bound states. Finally, by exploiting this peculiar detection technique we provide first information on the lifetime of the molecular states in a many-body setting, paving the way towards future investigations of strongly interacting Fermi gases in a still unexplored regime.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Connecting dissipation and phase slips in a Josephson junction between fermionic superfluids

We study the emergence of dissipation in an atomic Josephson junction between weakly-coupled superfluid Fermi gases. We find that vortex-induced phase slippage is the dominant microscopic source of dissipation across the BEC-BCS crossover. We explore different dynamical regimes by tuning the bias chemical potential between the two superfluid reservoirs. For small excitations, we observe dissipation and phase coherence to coexist, with a resistive current followed by well-defined Josephson oscillations. We link the junction transport properties to the phase-slippage mechanism, finding that vortex nucleation is primarily responsible for the observed trends of conductance and critical current. For large excitations, we observe the irreversible loss of coherence between the two superfluids, and transport cannot be described only within an uncorrelated phase-slip picture. Our findings open new directions for investigating the interplay between dissipative and superfluid transport in strongly correlated Fermi systems, and general concepts in out-of-equlibrium quantum systems.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Self-bound quantum droplets in atomic mixtures

Self-bound quantum droplets are a newly discovered phase in the context of ultracold atoms. In this work we report their experimental realization following the original proposal by Petrov [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 155302 (2015)], using an attractive bosonic mixture. In this system spherical droplets form due to the balance of competing attractive and repulsive forces, provided by the mean-field energy close to the collapse threshold and the first-order correction due to quantum fluctuations. Thanks to an optical levitating potential with negligible residual confinement we observe self-bound droplets in free space and we characterize the conditions for their formation as well as their equilibrium properties. This work sets the stage for future studies on quantum droplets, from the measurement of their peculiar excitation spectrum, to the exploration of their superfluid nature.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

State-dependent interactions in ultracold $^{174}$Yb probed by optical clock spectroscopy

We report on the measurement of the scattering properties of ultracold $^{174}$Yb bosons in a three-dimensional (3D) optical lattice. Site occupancy in an atomic Mott insulator is resolved with high-precision spectroscopy on an ultranarrow optical clock transition. Scattering lengths and loss rate coefficients for $^{174}$Yb atoms in different collisional channels involving the ground state $^1$S$_0$ and the metastable $^3$P$_0$ are derived. These studies set important constraints for future experimental studies of two-electron atoms for quantum-technological applications.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Measuring molecular frequencies in the 1--10 μm range at 11-digits accuracy

Mid infrared (MIR) photonics is a key region for molecular physics [1]. High-resolution spectroscopy in the 1--10 μm region, though, has never been fully tackled for the lack of widely-tunable and practical light sources. Indeed, all solutions proposed thus far suffer from at least one of three issues: they are feasible only in a narrow spectral range; the power available for spectroscopy is limited; the frequency accuracy is poor. Here, we present a setup for high-resolution spectroscopy that can be applied in the whole 1--10 μm range by combining the power of quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) and the accuracy achievable by difference frequency generation using an OP-GaP crystal. The frequency is measured against a primary frequency standard using the Italian metrological fibre link network. We demonstrate the performance of the setup by measuring a vibrational transition in a highly-excited metastable state of CO around 6 μm with 11 digits of precision, four orders of magnitude better than the value available in the literature [2].

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2017

Crossing Over from Attractive to Repulsive Interactions in a Tunneling Bosonic Josephson Junction

We explore the interplay between tunneling and interatomic interactions in the dynamics of a bosonic Josephson junction. We tune the scattering length of an atomic $^{39}$K Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a double-well trap to investigate regimes inaccessible to other superconducting or superfluid systems. In the limit of small-amplitude oscillations, we study the transition from Rabi to plasma oscillations by crossing over from attractive to repulsive interatomic interactions. We observe a critical slowing down in the oscillation frequency by increasing the strength of an attractive interaction up to the point of a quantum phase transition. With sufficiently large initial oscillation amplitude and repulsive interactions the system enters the macroscopic quantum self-trapping regime, where we observe coherent undamped oscillations with a self-sustained average imbalance of the relative well population. The exquisite agreement between theory and experiments enables the observation of a broad range of many body coherent dynamical regimes driven by tunable tunneling energy, interactions and external forces, with applications spanning from atomtronics to quantum metrology.

quant-ph↗