arXiv subjects

M. Modugno

Publications and source records attributed to M. Modugno.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Energy and momentum transfer in one-dimensional trapped gases by stimulated light scattering

In ultracold atoms settings, inelastic light scattering is a preeminent technique to reveal static and dynamic properties at nonzero momentum. In this work, we investigate an array of one-dimensional trapped Bose gases, by measuring both the energy and the momentum imparted to the system via light scattering experiments. The measurements are performed in the weak perturbation regime, where these two quantities - the energy and momentum transferred - are expected to be related to the dynamical structure factor of the system. We discuss this relation, with special attention to the role of in-trap dynamics on the transferred momentum.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Interference of spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensates

Interference of atomic Bose-Einstein condensates, observed in free expansion experiments, is a basic characteristic of their quantum nature. The ability to produce synthetic spin-orbit coupling in Bose-Einstein condensates has recently opened a new research field. Here we theoretically describe interference of two noninteracting spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensates in an external synthetic magnetic field. We demonstrate that the spin-orbit and the Zeeman couplings strongly influence the interference pattern determined by the angle between the spins of the condensates, as can be seen in time-of-flight experiments. We show that a quantum backflow, being a subtle feature of the interference, is, nevertheless, robust against the spin-orbit coupling and applied synthetic magnetic field.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2013

Detecting quantum backflow by the density of a Bose-Einstein Condensate

Quantum backflow is a classically forbidden effect consisting in a negative flux for states with negligible negative momentum components. It has never been observed experimentally so far. We derive a general relation that connects backflow with a critical value of the particle density, paving the way for the detection of backflow by a density measurement. To this end, we propose an explicit scheme with Bose-Einstein condensates, at reach with current experimental technologies. Remarkably, the application of a positive momentum kick, via a Bragg pulse, to a condensate with a positive velocity may cause a current flow in the negative direction.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Engineering fast and stable splitting of matter waves

When attempting to split coherent cold atom clouds or a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) by bifurcation of the trap into a double well, slow adiabatic following is unstable with respect to any slight asymmetry, and the wave "collapses" to the lower well, whereas a generic fast chopping splits the wave but it also excites it. Shortcuts to adiabaticity engineered to speed up the adiabatic process through non-adiabatic transients, provide instead quiet and robust fast splitting. The non-linearity of the BEC makes the proposed shortcut even more stable.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

Fast transitionless expansions of cold atoms in optical Gaussian beam traps

We study fast expansions of cold atoms in a three-dimensional Gaussian-beam optical trap. Three different methods to avoid final motional excitation are compared: inverse engineering using Lewis-Riesenfeld invariants, which provides the best overall performance, a bang-bang approach, and a fast adiabatic approach. We analyze the excitation effect of anharmonic terms, radial-longitudinal coupling, and radial-frequency mismatch. In the inverse engineering approach these perturbations can be suppressed or mitigated by increasing the laser beam waist.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2011

Multiple-scale approach for the expansion scaling of superfluid quantum gases

We present a general method, based on a multiple-scale approach, for deriving the perturbative solutions of the scaling equations governing the expansion of superfluid ultracold quantum gases released from elongated harmonic traps. We discuss how to treat the secular terms appearing in the usual naive expansion in the trap asymmetry parameter epsilon, and calculate the next-to-leading correction for the asymptotic aspect ratio, with significant improvement over the previous proposals.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2011

Observation of subdiffusion of a disordered interacting system

We study the transport dynamics of matter-waves in the presence of disorder and nonlinearity. An atomic Bose-Einstein condensate that is localized in a quasiperiodic lattice in the absence of atom-atom interaction shows instead a slow expansion with a subdiffusive behavior when a controlled repulsive interaction is added. The measured features of the subdiffusion are compared to numerical simulations and a heuristic model. The observations confirm the nature of subdiffusion as interaction-assisted hopping between localized states and highlight a role of the spatial correlation of the disorder.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2011

Fast transport of Bose-Einstein condensates

We propose an inverse method to accelerate without final excitation the adiabatic transport of a Bose Einstein condensate. The method, applicable to arbitrary potential traps, is based on a partial extension of the Lewis-Riesenfeld invariants, and provides transport protocols that satisfy exactly the no-excitation conditions without constraints or approximations. This inverse method is complemented by optimizing the trap trajectory with respect to different physical criteria and by studying the effect of noise.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2010

Correlation function of weakly interacting bosons in a disordered lattice

One of the most important issues in disordered systems is the interplay of the disorder and repulsive interactions. Several recent experimental advances on this topic have been made with ultracold atoms, in particular the observation of Anderson localization, and the realization of the disordered Bose-Hubbard model. There are however still questions as to how to differentiate the complex insulating phases resulting from this interplay, and how to measure the size of the superfluid fragments that these phases entail. It has been suggested that the correlation function of such a system can give new insights, but so far little experimental investigation has been performed. Here, we show the first experimental analysis of the correlation function for a weakly interacting, bosonic system in a quasiperiodic lattice. We observe an increase in the correlation length as well as a change in shape of the correlation function in the delocalization crossover from Anderson glass to coherent, extended state. In between, the experiment indicates the formation of progressively larger coherent fragments, consistent with a fragmented BEC, or Bose glass.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2010

Dilute Bose gas with correlated disorder: A Path Integral Monte Carlo study

We investigate the thermodynamic properties of a dilute Bose gas in a correlated random potential using exact path integral Monte Carlo methods. The study is carried out in continuous space and disorder is produced in the simulations by a 3D speckle pattern with tunable intensity and correlation length. We calculate the shift of the superfluid transition temperature due to disorder and we highlight the role of quantum localization by comparing the critical chemical potential with the classical percolation threshold. The equation of state of the gas is determined in the regime of strong disorder, where superfluidity is suppressed and the normal phase exists down to very low temperatures. We find a $T^2$ dependence of the energy in agreement with the expected behavior in the Bose glass phase. We also discuss the major role played by the disorder correlation length and we make contact with a Hartree-Fock mean-field approach that holds valid if the correlation length is very large. The density profiles are analyzed as a function of temperature and interaction strength. Effects of localization and the depletion of the order parameter are emphasized in the comparison between local condensate and total density. At very low temperature we find that the energy and the particle distribution of the gas are very well described by the T=0 Gross-Pitaevskii theory even in the regime of very strong disorder.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2010

Delocalization of a disordered bosonic system by repulsive interactions

Clarifying the interplay of interactions and disorder is fundamental to the understanding of many quantum systems, including superfluid helium in porous media, granular and thin-film superconductors, and light propagating in disordered media. One central aspect for bosonic systems is the competition between disorder, which tends to localize particles, and weak repulsive interactions, which instead have a delocalizing effect. Since the required degree of independent control of the disorder and of the interactions is not easily achievable in most available physical systems, a systematic experimental investigation of this competition has so far not been possible. Here we employ an ultracold atomic Bose-Einstein condensate with tunable repulsive interactions in a quasi-periodic lattice potential to study this interplay in detail. We characterize the entire delocalization crossover through the study of the average local shape of the wavefunction, the spatial correlations, and the phase coherence. Three different regimes are identified and compared with theoretical expectations: an exponentially localized Anderson glass, the formation of locally coherent fragments, as well as a coherent, extended state. Our results illuminate the role of weak repulsive interactions on disordered bosonic systems and show that the system and the techniques we employ are promising for further investigations of disordered systems with interactions, also in the strongly correlated regime.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2009

Excitations of Bose-Einstein condensates in a one-dimensional periodic potential

We report on the experimental investigation of the response of a three-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in the presence of a one-dimensional (1D) optical lattice. By means of Bragg spectroscopy we probe the band structure of the excitation spectrum in the presence of the periodic potential. We selectively induce elementary excitations of the BEC choosing the transferred momentum and we observe different resonances in the energy transfer, corresponding to the transitions to different bands. The frequency, the width and the strength of these resonances are investigated as a function of the amplitude of the 1D optical lattice.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2008

Anderson localization of a non-interacting Bose-Einstein condensate

One of the most intriguing phenomena in physics is the localization of waves in disordered media. This phenomenon was originally predicted by Anderson, fifty years ago, in the context of transport of electrons in crystals. Anderson localization is actually a much more general phenomenon, and it has been observed in a large variety of systems, including light waves. However, it has never been observed directly for matter waves. Ultracold atoms open a new scenario for the study of disorder-induced localization, due to high degree of control of most of the system parameters, including interaction. Here we employ for the first time a noninteracting Bose-Einstein condensate to study Anderson localization. The experiment is performed with a onedimensional quasi-periodic lattice, a system which features a crossover between extended and exponentially localized states as in the case of purely random disorder in higher dimensions. Localization is clearly demonstrated by investigating transport properties, spatial and momentum distributions. We characterize the crossover, finding that the critical disorder strength scales with the tunnelling energy of the atoms in the lattice. Since the interaction in the condensate can be controlled at will, this system might be employed to solve open questions on the interplay of disorder and interaction and to explore exotic quantum phases.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2007

Dynamical instability and dispersion management of an attractive condensate in an optical lattice

We investigate the stability of an attractive Bose-Einstein condensate in a moving 1D optical lattice in the presence of transverse confinement. By means of a Bogoliubov linear stability analysis we find that the system is dynamically unstable for low quasimomenta and becomes stable near the band edge, in a specular fashion with respect to the repulsive case. For low interactions the instability occurs via long wavelength excitations that are not sufficient for spoiling the condensate coherence, producing instead an oscillating density pattern both in real and momentum space. This behaviour is illustrated by simulations for the expansion of the condensate in a moving lattice.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2007

39-K Bose-Einstein condensate with tunable interactions

We produce a Bose-Einstein condensate of 39-K atoms. Condensation of this species with naturally small and negative scattering length is achieved by a combination of sympathetic cooling with 87-Rb and direct evaporation, exploiting the magnetic tuning of both inter- and intra-species interactions at Feshbach resonances. We explore tunability of the self-interactions by studying the expansion and the stability of the condensate. We find that a 39-K condensate is interesting for future experiments requiring a weakly interacting Bose gas.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2006

Detecting phonons and persistent currents in toroidal Bose-Einstein condensates by means of pattern formation

We theoretically investigate the dynamic properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a toroidal trap. A periodic modulation of the transverse confinement is shown to produce a density pattern due to parametric amplification of phonon pairs. By imaging the density distribution after free expansion one obtains i) a precise determination of the Bogoliubov spectrum and ii) a sensitive detection of quantized circulation in the torus. The parametric amplification is also sensitive to thermal and quantum fluctuations.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2006

Effect of interactions on the localization of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a quasi-periodic lattice

The transport properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a 1D incommensurate bichromatic lattice are investigated both theoretically and experimentally. We observe a blockage of the center of mass motion with low atom number, and a return of motion when the atom number is increased. Solutions of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation show how the localization due to the quasi-disorder introduced by the incommensurate bichromatic lattice is affected by the interactions.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2005

The geometry of Newton's law and rigid systems

We start by formulating geometrically the Newton's law for a classical free particle in terms of Riemannian geometry, as pattern for subsequent developments. In fact, we use this scheme for further generalisation devoted to a constrained particle, to a discrete system of several free and constrained particles. For constrained systems we have intrinsic and extrinsic viewpoints, with respect to the environmental space. In the second case, we obtain an explicit formula for the reaction force via the second fundamental form of the constrained configuration space. For multi--particle systems we describe geometrically the splitting related to the center of mass and relative velocities; in this way we emphasise the geometric source of classical formulas. Then, the above scheme is applied in detail to discrete rigid systems. We start by analysing the geometry of the rigid configuration space. In this way we recover the classical formula for the velocity of the rigid system via the parallelisation of Lie groups. Moreover, we study in detail the splitting of the tangent and cotangent environmental space into the three components of center of mass, of relative velocities and of the orthogonal subspace. This splitting yields the classical components of linear and angular momentum (which here arise from a purely geometric construction) and, moreover, a third non standard component. The third projection yields an explicit formula for the reaction force in the nodes of the rigid constraint.

math-ph↗