arXiv subjects

Nicolas Pavloff

Publications and source records attributed to Nicolas Pavloff.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Vortex leapfrogging and superfluid dissipation mechanisms in a fluid of light

We report the experimental observation of vortex leapfrogging in a two-dimensional fluid of light. By imprinting two vortex-antivortex pairs and tracking their real-time evolution through phase-resolved imaging, we observe a dynamics that is accurately described by a point-vortex model with an outward background flow. By precisely controlling the initial vortex separation, we identify configurations in which leapfrogging breaks down and determine the corresponding dissipation mechanisms. The first originates from phase-slip events occurring at large injected velocities. The second arises when the injection of multi-charged vortices leads to the formation of a dispersive shock wave which acts as a continuous source of phase slippage. These mechanisms advance our understanding of vortex dynamics and dissipation in superfluids.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2025

Backreaction equations for 1+1 dimensional BEC sonic black holes

As in the gravitational context, one of the most challenging open question in analogue black holes formed in Bose-Einstein condensates concerns the backreaction of Hawking-like radiation on the condensate and its subsequent evolution. In this work we derive the basic equations describing this backreaction within the density-phase formalism, which avoids infrared divergences and is particularly well suited to one-dimensional configurations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2024

Topological Pathways to Two-Dimensional Quantum Turbulence

We present a combined experimental and theoretical investigation of the formation and decay kinetics of vortices in two dimensional, compressible quantum turbulence. We follow the temporal evolution of a quantum fluid of exciton polaritons, hybrid light matter quasiparticles, and measure both phase and modulus of the order parameter in the turbulent regime. Fundamental topological conservation laws require that the formation and annihilation of vortices also involve critical points of the velocity field, namely nodes and saddles. Identifying the simplest mechanisms underlying these processes enables us to develop an effective kinetic model that closely aligns with the experimental observations, and shows that different processes are responsible for vortex number growth and decay. These findings underscore the crucial role played by topological constraints in shaping nonlinear, turbulent evolution of two dimensional quantum fluids.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2024

Violation of Bell inequalities in an analogue black hole

Signals of entanglement and nonlocality are quantitatively evaluated at zero and finite temperature in an analogue black hole realized in the flow of a quasi one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate. The violation of Lorentz invariance inherent to this analog system opens the prospect to observe 3-mode quantum correlations and we study the corresponding violation of bipartite and tripartite Bell inequalities. It is shown that the long wavelength modes of the system are maximally entangled, in the sense that they realize a superposition of continuous variable versions of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states whose entanglement resists partial tracing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Topological constraints on the dynamics of vortex formation in a two-dimensional quantum fluid

We present experimental and theoretical results on formation of quantum vortices in a laser beam propagating in a nonlinear medium. Topological constrains richer than the mere conservation of vorticity impose an elaborate dynamical behavior to the formation and annihilation of vortex-antivortex pairs. We identify two such mechanisms, both described by the same fold-Hopf bifurcation. One of them is particularly efficient although it is not observed in the context of liquid helium films or stationary systems because it relies on the compressible nature of the fluid of light we consider and on the non-stationarity of its flow.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2023

Oscillating Solitons and AC Josephson Effect in Ferromagnetic Bose-Bose Mixtures

Close to the demixing transition, the degree of freedom associated to relative density fluctuations of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate is described by a non-dissipative Landau-Lifshitz equation. In the quasi one-dimensional weakly immiscible case, this mapping surprisingly predicts that a dark-bright soliton should oscillate when subject to a constant force favoring separation of the two components. We propose a realistic experimental implementation of this phenomenon which we interpret as a spin-Josephson effect in the presence of a movable barrier.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Bipartite and tripartite entanglement in a Bose-Einstein acoustic black hole

We investigate quantum entanglement in an analogue black hole realized in the flow of a Bose-Einstein condensate. The system is described by a three-mode Gaussian state and we construct the corresponding covariance matrix at zero and finite temperature. We study associated bipartite and tripartite entanglement measures and discuss their experimental observation. We identify a simple optical setup equivalent to the analogue Bose-Einstein black hole which suggests a new way of determining the Hawking temperature and grey-body factor of the system.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Supersolidity of cnoidal waves in an ultracold Bose gas

A one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate may experience nonlinear periodic modulations known as "cnoidal waves". We argue that such structures represent promising candidates for the study of supersolidity-related phenomena in a non-equilibrium state. A mean-field treatment makes it possible to rederive Leggett's formula for the superfluid fraction of the system and to estimate it analytically. We determine the excitation spectrum, for which we obtain analytical results in the two opposite limiting cases of (i) a linearly modulated background and (ii) a train of dark solitons. The presence of two Goldstone (gapless) modes -- associated with the spontaneous breaking of $\mathrm{U}(1)$ symmetry and of continuous translational invariance -- at large wavelength is verified. We also calculate the static structure factor and the compressibility of cnoidal waves, which show a divergent behavior at the edges of each Brillouin zone.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Formation of dispersive shock waves in a saturable nonlinear medium

We use the Gurevich-Pitaevskii approach based on the Whitham averaging method for studying the formation of dispersive shock waves in an intense light pulse propagating through a saturable nonlinear medium. Although the Whitham modulation equations cannot be diagonalized in this case, the main characteristics of the dispersive shock can be derived by means of an analysis of the properties of these equations at the boundaries of the shock. Our approach generalizes a previous analysis of step-like initial intensity distributions to a more realistic type of initial light pulse and makes it possible to determine, in a setting of experimental interest, the value of measurable quantities such as the wave-breaking time or the position and light intensity of the shock edges.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2019

Domain wall problem in the quantum XXZ chain and semiclassical behavior close to the isotropic point

We study the dynamics of a spin-1/2 XXZ chain which is initially prepared in a domain-wall state. We compare the results of time-dependent Density Matrix Renormalization Group simulations with those of an effective description in terms of a classical anisotropic Landau-Lifshitz (LL) equation. Numerous quantities are analyzed: magnetization (x, y and z components), energy density, energy current, but also some spin-spin correlation functions or entanglement entropy in the quantum chain. Without any adjustable parameter a quantitative agreement is observed between the quantum and the LL problems in the long time limit, when the models are close to the isotropic point. This is explained as a consequence of energy conservation. At the isotropic point the mapping between the LL equation and the nonlinear Schrödinger equation is used to construct a variational solution capturing several aspects of the problem.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2018

Momentum distribution and coherence of a weakly interacting Bose gas after a quench

We consider a weakly interacting uniform atomic Bose gas with a time-dependent nonlinear coupling constant. By developing a suitable Bogoliubov treatment we investigate the time evolution of several observables, including the momentum distribution, the degree of coherence in the system, and their dependence on dimensionality and temperature. We rigorously prove that the low-momentum Bogoliubov modes remain frozen during the whole evolution, while the high-momentum ones adiabatically follow the change in time of the interaction strength. At intermediate momenta we point out the occurrence of oscillations, which are analogous to Sakharov oscillations. We identify two wide classes of time-dependent behaviors of the coupling for which an exact solution of the problem can be found, allowing for an analytic computation of all the relevant observables. A special emphasis is put on the study of the coherence property of the system in one spatial dimension. We show that the system exhibits a smooth "light-cone effect," with typically no prethermalization.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2006

Anderson localization of elementary excitations in a one dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate

We study the elementary excitations of a transversely confined Bose-Einstein condensate in presence of a weak axial random potential. We determine the localization length (i) in the hydrodynamical low energy regime, for a domain of linear densities ranging from the Tonks-Girardeau to the transverse Thomas-Fermi regime, in the case of a white noise potential and (ii) for all the range of energies, in the ``one-dimensional mean field regime'', in the case where the randomness is induced by a series of randomly placed point-like impurities. We discuss our results in view of recent experiments in elongated BEC systems.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2005

Nonlinear Transport of Bose-Einstein Condensates Through Waveguides with Disorder

We study the coherent flow of a guided Bose-Einstein condensate incident over a disordered region of length L. We introduce a model of disordered potential that originates from magnetic fluctuations inherent to microfabricated guides. This model allows for analytical and numerical studies of realistic transport experiments. The repulsive interaction among the condensate atoms in the beam induces different transport regimes. Below some critical interaction (or for sufficiently small L) a stationary flow is observed. In this regime, the transmission decreases exponentially with L. For strong interaction (or large L), the system displays a transition towards a time dependent flow with an algebraic decay of the time averaged transmission.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2005

Dark soliton past a finite-size obstacle

We consider the collision of a dark soliton with an obstacle in a quasi-one-dimensional Bose condensate. We show that in many respects the soliton behaves as an effective classical particle of mass twice the mass of a bare particle, evolving in an effective potential which is a convolution of the actual potential describing the obstacle. Radiative effects beyond this approximation are also taken into account. The emitted waves are shown to form two counterpropagating wave packets, both moving at the speed of sound. We determine, at leading order, the total amount of radiation emitted during the collision and compute the acceleration of the soliton due to the collisional process. It is found that the radiative process is quenched when the velocity of the soliton reaches the velocity of sound in the system.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv2004

Solitonic transmission of Bose-Einstein matter waves

We consider a continuous atom laser propagating through a wave guide with a constriction. Two different types of transmitted stationary flow coexist. The first one coincides, at low incident current, with the non-interacting flow. As the incident flux increases, the repulsive interactions decrease the corresponding transmission coefficient. The second type only occurs for sufficiently large incident currents and has a solitonic structure. Remarkably, for any chemical potential there always exists a value of the incident flux at which the solitonic flow is perfectly transmitted.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2002

Breakdown of superfluidity of an atom laser past an obstacle

The 1D flow of a continuous beam of Bose-Einstein condensed atoms in the presence of an obstacle is studied as a function of the beam velocity and of the type of perturbing potential (representing the interaction of the obstacle with the atoms of the beam). We identify the relevant regimes: stationary/time-dependent and superfluid/dissipative; the absence of drag is used as a criterion for superfluidity. There exists a critical velocity below which the flow is superfluid. For attractive obstacles, we show that this critical velocity can reach the value predicted by Landau's approach. For penetrable obstacles, it is shown that superfluidity is recovered at large beam velocity. Finally, enormous differences in drag occur when switching from repulsive to attractive potential.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1996

Uniform approximation for diffractive contributions to the trace formula in billiard systems

We derive contributions to the trace formula for the spectral density accounting for the role of diffractive orbits in two-dimensional billiard systems with corners. This is achieved by using the exact Sommerfeld solution for the Green function of a wedge. We obtain a uniformly valid formula which interpolates between formerly separate approaches (the geometrical theory of diffraction and Gutzwiller's trace formula). It yields excellent numerical agreement with exact quantum results, also in cases where other methods fail.

chao-dyn↗

arXiv1995

Diffractive orbits in quantum billiards

We study diffractive effects in two dimensional polygonal billiards. We derive an analytical trace formula accounting for the role of non-classical diffractive orbits in the quantum spectrum. As an illustration the method is applied to a triangular billiard.

chao-dyn↗