arXiv subjects

P. B. Blakie

Publications and source records attributed to P. B. Blakie.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Approximate theories for binary magnetic quantum droplets

We develop two approximate theories to describe the miscible and immiscible droplets that can occur in a binary mixture of highly magnetic bosonic atoms. In addition to allowing simpler calculations, the approximate theories provide insight into the role of quantum fluctuations in the two regimes. Results are validated by comparison to those from the extended Gross-Pitaevskii equation. As an application we solve for the ground state droplets crossing the miscible-immiscible transition as function of the short-ranged interspecies interaction parameter. We consider regimes where the transition occurs suddenly or as a smooth cross-over. Using dynamical calculations we show that the character of the transition is revealed in the number of domains produced when ramping the droplet into the immiscible regime.

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arXiv2021

Miscibility and stability of dipolar bosonic mixtures

Combining two Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) may result in a miscible or immiscible mixture, or even a violent implosion. We theoretically demonstrate that dipolar two-component BECs produce far richer physics than their nondipolar counterparts. Intriguingly, when both components have equivalent dipoles, the transition to immiscibility is largely unaffected by dipolar physics, yet the dipoles maximally affect stability. Conversely, antiparallel dipoles strongly affect miscibility but have little effect on stability. By performing three-dimensional calculations of the ground states and their excitations, we find strong dependencies on the confinement geometry. We explore and elucidate the various phononic and rotonic phase transitions, as well as symmetry preserving crossovers.

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arXiv2021

Dark soliton-like magnetic domain walls in a two-dimensional ferromagnetic superfluid

We report a stable magnetic domain wall in a uniform ferromagnetic spin-1 condensate, characterized by the magnetization having a dark soliton profile with nonvanishing superfluid density. We find exact stationary solutions for a particular ratio of interaction parameters with and without magnetic fields, and develop an accurate analytic solution applicable to the whole ferromagnetic phase. In the absence of magnetic fields, this domain wall relates various distinct solitary excitations in binary condensates through $\textrm{SO}(3)$ spin rotations, which otherwise are unconnected. Remarkably, studying the dynamics of a quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) system we show that standing wave excitations of the domain wall oscillate without decay, being stable against the snake instability. The domain wall is dynamically unstable to modes that cause the magnetization to grow perpendicularly while leaving the domain wall unchanged. Real time dynamics in the presence of white noise reveals that this "spin twist" instability does not destroy the topological structure of the magnetic domain wall.

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arXiv2020

Numerical calculation of dipolar quantum droplet stationary states

We describe and benchmark a method to accurately calculate the quantum droplet states that can be produced from a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate. Our approach also allows us to consider vortex states, where the atoms circulate around the long-axis of the filament shaped droplet. We apply our approach to determine a phase diagram showing where self-bound droplets are stable against evaporation, and to quantify the energetics related to the fission of a vortex droplet into two non-vortex droplets.

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arXiv2020

A damped point-vortex model for polar-core spin vortices in a ferromagnetic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate

Ferromagnetic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates in the broken-axisymmetric phase support polar-core spin vortices (PCVs), which are intimately linked to the nonequilibrium dynamics of the system. For a purely transversely magnetized system, the Turner point-vortex model predicts that PCVs behave like massive charged particles interacting via a two-dimensional Coulomb potential. We test the accuracy of the Turner model for two oppositely charged PCVs, via comparisons with numerical simulations. While the bare Turner model shows discrepancies with our numerical results, we find that a simple rescaling of the PCV mass gives much better agreement. This can be explained via a phenomenological damping arising from coupling to modes extrinsic to the point-vortex phase space. We also identify the excitations produced following PCV annihilation, which help elucidate recent phase ordering results. We extend the Turner model to cases where the system is magnetized both transversally and axially, identifying a crossover to scalar vortex dynamics for increasing external Zeeman field.

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arXiv2020

Excitations and number fluctuations in an elongated dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate

We study the properties of a magnetic dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in an elongated (cigar shaped) confining potential in the beyond quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) regime. In this system the dipole-dipole interactions (DDIs) develop a momentum-dependence related to the transverse confinement and the polarization direction of the dipoles. This leads to density fluctuations being enhanced or suppressed at a length scale related to the transverse confinement length, with local atom number measurements being a practical method to observe these effects in experiments. We use meanfield theory to describe the ground state, excitations and the local number fluctuations. Quantitative predictions are presented based on full numerical solutions and a simplified variational approach that we develop. In addition to the well-known roton excitation, occurring when the dipoles are polarized along a tightly confined direction, we find an "anti-roton" effect for the case of dipoles polarized along the long axis: a nearly non-interacting ground state that experiences strongly repulsive interactions with excitations of sufficiently short wavelength.

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arXiv2020

Quantum droplet states of a binary magnetic gas

Quantum droplets can emerge in bosonic binary magnetic gases (BMGs) from the interplay of short- and long-ranged interactions, and quantum fluctuations. We develop an extended meanfield theory for this system and use it to predict equilibrium and dynamical properties of BMG droplets. We present a phase diagram and characterize miscible and immiscible droplet states. We also show that a single component self-bound droplet can be used to bind another magnetic component which is not in the droplet regime. Our results should be realizable in experiments with mixtures of highly-magnetic lanthanide atoms.

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arXiv2020

Supersolidity in an elongated dipolar condensate

We present a theory for the emergence of a supersolid state in a cigar-shaped dipolar quantum Bose gas. Our approach is based on a reduced three-dimensional (3D) theory, where the condensate wavefunction is decomposed into an axial field and a transverse part described variationally. This provides an accurate fully 3D description that is specific to the regime of current experiments and efficient to compute. We apply this theory to understand the phase diagram for a gas in an infinite tube potential. We find that the supersolid transition has continuous and discontinuous regions as the averaged density varies. We develop two simplified analytic models to characterize the phase diagram and elucidate the roles of quantum droplets and of the roton excitation.

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arXiv2020

Rotational tuning of the dipole-dipole interaction in a Bose gas of magnetic atoms

We investigate the dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate of magnetic atoms in which the dipoles are rotated by an external magnetic field. The time-averaged dipole-dipole interaction between the atoms is effectively tuned by this rotation, however recent experimental and theoretical developments show that dynamic instabilities emerge that may cause heating. We present simulations of a realistic tuning sequence in this system, and characterize the system behavior and the emergence of instabilities. Our results indicate that the instabilities develop more slowly as the rotation frequency increases, and indicate that experiments with tuned dipole-dipole interactions should be feasible.

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arXiv2019

Anomalous phase ordering of a quenched ferromagnetic superfluid

Coarsening dynamics, the canonical theory of phase ordering following a quench across a symmetry breaking phase transition, is thought to be driven by the annihilation of topological defects. Here we show that this understanding is incomplete. We simulate the dynamics of an isolated spin-1 condensate quenched into the easy-plane ferromagnetic phase and find that the mutual annihilation of spin vortices does not take the system to the equilibrium state. A nonequilibrium background of long wavelength spin waves remain at the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless temperature, an order of magnitude hotter than the equilibrium temperature. The coarsening continues through a second much slower scale invariant process with a length scale that grows with time as $t^{1/3}$. This second regime of coarsening is associated with spin wave energy transport from low to high wavevectors, bringing about the the eventual equilibrium state. Because the relevant spin waves are noninteracting, the transport occurs through a dynamic coupling to other degrees of freedom of the system. The transport displays features of a spin wave energy cascade, providing a potential profitable connection with the emerging field of spin wave turbulence. Strongly coupling the system to a reservoir destroys the second regime of coarsening, allowing the system to thermalise following the annihilation of vortices.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Static-response theory and the roton-maxon spectrum of a flattened dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate

Important information for the roton-maxon spectrum of a flattened dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate is extracted by applying a static perturbation exhibiting a periodic in-plane modulation. By solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation in the presence of the weak perturbation we evaluate the linear density response of the system and use it, together with sum rules, to provide a Feynman-like upper-bound prediction for the excitation spectrum, finding excellent agreement with the predictions of full Bogoliubov calculations. By suddenly removing the static perturbation, while still maintaining the trap, we find that the density modulations -- as well as the weights of the perturbation-induced side peaks of the momentum distribution -- undergo an oscillatory behavior with double the characteristic frequency of the excitation spectrum. The measurement of the oscillation periods could provide an easy determination of dispersion relations.

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arXiv2019

Violation of single-length scaling dynamics via spin vortices in an isolated spin-1 Bose gas

We consider the phase ordering dynamics of an isolated quasi-two-dimensional spin-1 Bose gas quenched into an easy-plane ferromagnetic phase. Preparing the initial system in an unmagnetized anti-ferromagnetic state the subsequent ordering involves both polar core and Mermin-Ho spin vortices, with the ratio between the different vortices controllable by the quench parameter. Ferromagnetic domain growth occurs as these vortices annihilate. The distinct dynamics of the two types of vortices means that the domain growth law is determined by two macroscopic length scales, violating the standard dynamic scaling hypothesis. Nevertheless we find that universality of the ordering process manifests in the decay laws for the spin vortices.

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arXiv2018

Excitations of a vortex line in an elongated dipolar condensate

We characterise the properties of a vortex line in an elongated dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate. Increasing the strength of the dipole-dipole interactions (DDIs) relative to the short ranged contact interactions we find that the system crosses over to a self-bound vortex droplet stabilized from collapse by quantum fluctuations. We calculate the quasiparticle excitation spectrum of the vortex state, which is important in characterizing the vortex response, and assessing its stability. When the DDIs are sufficiently strong we find that the vortex is dynamically unstable to quadrupolar modes.

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arXiv2018

Dynamics of a quenched spin-1 antiferromagnetic condensate in a harmonic trap

In this paper we consider a recent experiment [Kang et al. PRA 95 053638 (2017)] in which an antiferromagnetic spin-1 condensate of 23Na atoms was quenched from the easy-axis polar phase into the easy-plane polar phase. We simulate the phase transition dynamics using a classical field method with noisy initial conditions and find good agreement to the experimental observations. We analyse the late-time dynamics in terms of phase ordering using the nematic order parameter that we have developed in earlier work [Symes et al. PRA 96, 013602 (2017)]. We show that these experiments are able to explore the early stages of universal phase ordering where the domains grow diffusively.

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arXiv2018

Droplet crystal ground states of a dipolar Bose gas

We show that the ground state of a dipolar Bose gas in a cylindrically symmetric harmonic trap has a rich phase diagram, including droplet crystal states in which a set of droplets arrange into a lattice pattern that breaks the rotational symmetry. An analytic model for small droplet crystals is developed and used to obtain a zero temperature phase diagram that is numerically validated. We show that in certain regimes a coherent low-density halo surrounds the droplet crystal giving rise to a novel phase with localized and extended features.

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arXiv2017

Coarsening dynamics of an isotropic ferromagnetic superfluid

In zero magnetic field the ground state manifold of a ferromagnetic spin-1 condensate is SO(3) and exhibits $\mathbb{Z}_2$ vortices as topological defects. We investigate the phase ordering dynamics of this system after being quenched into this ferromagnetic phase from a zero temperature unmagnetized phase. Following the quench, we observe the ordering of both magnetic and gauge domains. We find that these domains grow diffusively, i.e. with domain size $L(t)\sim t^{1/2}$, and exhibit dynamic scale invariance. The coarsening dynamics progresses as $\mathbb{Z}_2$ vortices annihilate, however we find that at finite energy a number of these vortices persist in small clumps without influencing magnetic or gauge order. We consider the influence of a small non-zero magnetic field, which reduces the ground state symmetry, and show that this sets a critical length scale such that when the domains reach this size the system dynamically transitions in order parameter and scaling behaviour from an isotropic to an anisotropic ferromagnetic superfluid.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Collective excitations of self-bound droplets of a dipolar quantum fluid

We calculate the collective excitations of a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate in the regime where it self-binds into droplets stabilized by quantum fluctuations. We show that the filament-shaped droplets act as a quasi-one-dimensional waveguide along which low angular momentum phonons propagate. The evaporation (unbinding) threshold occurring as the atom number $N$ is reduced to the critical value $N_c$ is associated with a monopole-like excitation going soft as $ε_0\sim(N-N_c)^{1/4}$. Considering the system in the presence of a trapping potential, we quantify the crossover from a trap-bound condensate to a self-bound droplet.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2017

Nematic ordering dynamics of an anti-ferromagnetic spin-1 condensate

We consider the formation of order in a quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D) anti-ferromagnetic spin-1 condensate quenched from an easy-axis (EA) to an easy-plane (EP) nematic phase. We define the relevant order parameter to quantify the spin-nematic degrees of freedom and study the evolution of the spin-nematic and superfluid order during the coarsening dynamics using numerical simulations. We observe dynamical scaling in the late time dynamics with both types of order extending across the system with a diffusive growth law. We identify half-quantum vortices (HQVs) as the relevant topological defects of the ordering dynamics, and demonstrate that the growth of both types of order is determined by the mutual annihilation of these vortices.

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