arXiv subjects

Ricardo Mayol

Publications and source records attributed to Ricardo Mayol.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Spinor Bose-Einstein condensates subject to current-density interactions

Recently achieved chiral condensates open intriguing avenues for the study of the chiral properties induced by current-density interactions. An attempt to include these features in a spinor system is presented, which gives rise to a nonlinear, effective spin-orbit coupling that emerges from the differential orbital currents, along with constraints in the conserved quantities due to the linear coupling between spin components. Chirality pervades the resulting spectrum of stationary states and their dynamical stability, which are explored in plane waves, dark and bright solitons, and Josephson vortices. Our analytical and numerical results reveal the destabilizing role of polarization and Josephson currents, and support the existence of stable nonlinear states built of linear superpositions of plane waves.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2023

Chiral currents in Bose-Einstein condensates subject to current-density interactions

Persistent currents in quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates become chiral in the presence of current-density interactions. This phenomenon is explored in ultracold atoms loaded in a rotating ring geometry, where diverse current-carrying stationary states are analytically found to generalize previously known solutions to the mean-field equations of motion. Their dynamical stability is tested by numerical simulations that show stable currents for states with both constant and modulated density profiles, while decaying currents appear only beyond a unidirectional velocity threshold. Recent experiments in the field make these states within experimental reach.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2023

Self-bound crystals of antiparallel dipolar mixtures

Recent experiments have created supersolids of dipolar quantum droplets. The resulting crystals lack, however, a genuine cohesive energy and are maintained by the presence of an external confinement, bearing a resemblance to the case of ion Coulomb crystals. We show that a mixture of two antiparallel dipolar condensates allows for the creation of potentially large, self-bound crystals which, resembling ionic crystals in solid-state physics, are maintained by the mutual dipolar attraction between the components, with no need of transversal confinement. This opens intriguing novel possibilities, including three-dimensionally self-bound droplet-ring structures, stripe/labyrinthic patterns, and self-bound crystals of droplets surrounded by an interstitial superfluid, resembling the case of superfluid Helium in porous media.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Shell-shaped condensates with gravitational sag: contact and dipolar interactions

We investigate Bose-Einstein condensates in bubble trap potentials in the presence of a small gravity. In particular, we focus on thin shells and study both contact and dipolar interacting condensates. We first analyze the effects of the anisotropic nature of the dipolar interactions, which already appear in the absence of gravity and are enhanced when the polarization axis of the dipoles and the gravity are slightly misaligned. Then, in the small gravity context, we investigate the dynamics of small oscillations of these thin, shell-shaped condensates triggered either by an instantaneous tilting of the gravity direction or by a sudden change of the gravity strength. This system could be a preliminary stage for realizing a gravity sensor in space laboratories.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2021

Dynamical generation of dark-bright solitons through the domain wall of two immiscible Bose-Einstein condensates

We theoretically investigate the one-dimensional dynamics of a dark soliton in a two-component immiscible mixture of Bose-Einstein condensates with repulsive interactions. We analyze the reflection and transmission of a soliton when it propagates through the domain wall, and we show that a dark-bright soliton can be dynamically generated by the interaction of the dark soliton with the domain wall, outside the regime of parameters where stationary solutions are known to exist. The dynamics of this dark-bright soliton is harmonic like, with a numerical frequency that is in good agreement with the predictions of a semi-analytical model.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2020

Rotating mixed $^3$He-$^4$He nanodroplets

Mixed $^3$He-$^4$He droplets created by hydrodynamic instability of a cryogenic fluid-jet may acquire angular momentum during their passage through the nozzle of the experimental apparatus. These free-standing droplets cool down to very low temperatures undergoing isotopic segregation, developing a nearly pure $^3$He crust surrounding a very $^4$He-rich superfluid core. Here, the stability and appearance of rotating mixed helium droplets are investigated using Density Functional Theory for an isotopic composition that highlights, with some marked exceptions related to the existence of the superfluid inner core, the analogies with viscous rotating droplets.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2019

Vortices with massive cores in a binary mixture of Bose-Einstein condensates

We analyze a notable class of states relevant to an immiscible bosonic binary mixture loaded in a rotating box-like circular trap, i.e. states where vortices in one species host the atoms of the other species, which thus play the role of massive cores. Within a fully-analytical framework, we calculate the equilibrium distance distinguishing the motion of precession of two corotating massive vortices, the angular momentum of each component, the vortices healing length and the characteristic size of the cores. We then compare these previsions with the measures extracted from the numerical solutions of the associated coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations. Interestingly, making use of a suitable change of reference frame, we show that vortices drag the massive cores which they host thus conveying them their same motion of precession, but that there is no evidence of tangential entrainment between the two fluids, since the cores keep their orientation constant while orbiting.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2014

Phase-slips and vortex dynamics in Josephson oscillations between Bose-Einstein condensates

We study the relation between Josephson dynamics and topological excitations in a dilute Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a double-well trap. We show that the phase slips responsible for the self-trapping regime are created by vortex rings entering and annihilating inside the weak-link region or created at the center of the barrier and expanding outside the system. Large amplitude oscillations just before the onset of self-trapping are also strictly connected with the dynamics of vortex rings at the edges of the inter-well barrier. Our results extend and analyze the dynamics of the vortex-induced phase slippages suggested a few decades ago in relation to the "ac" Josephson effect of superconducting and superfluid helium systems.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2008

Magnesium doped helium nanodroplets

We have studied the structure of $^4$He droplets doped with magnesium atoms using density functional theory. We have found that the solvation properties of this system strongly depend on the size of the $^4$He droplet. For small drops, Mg resides in a deep surface state, whereas for large size drops it is fully solvated but radially delocalized in their interior. We have studied the $3s3p$ $^1$P$_1 \leftarrow 3s^2$ $^1$S$_0$ transition of the dopant, and have compared our results with experimental data from laser induced fluorescence (LIF). Line broadening effects due to the coupling of dynamical deformations of the surrounding helium with the dipole excitation of the impurity are explicitly taken into account. We show that the Mg radial delocalization inside large droplets may help reconcile the apparently contradictory solvation properties of magnesium as provided by LIF and electron-impact ionization experiments. The structure of $^4$He drops doped with two magnesium atoms is also studied and used to interpret the results of resonant two-photon-ionization (R2PI) and LIF experiments. We have found that the two solvated Mg atoms do not easily merge into a dimer, but rather form a weakly-bound state due to the presence of an energy barrier caused by the helium environment that keep them some 9.5 Å apart, preventing the formation of the Mg$_2$ molecule. From this observation, we suggest that Mg atoms in $^4$He drops may form, under suitable conditions, a soft ``foam''-like aggregate rather than coalesce into a compact metallic cluster. Our findings are in qualitative agreement with recent R2PI experimental evidences. We predict that, contrarily, Mg atoms adsorbed in $^3$He droplets do not form such metastable aggregates.

cond-mat.other↗

arXiv2007

Absorption spectrum of Ca atoms attached to $^4$He nanodroplets

Within density functional theory, we have obtained the structure of $^4$He droplets doped with neutral calcium atoms. These results have been used, in conjunction with newly determined {\it ab-initio} $^1Σ$ and $^1Π$ Ca-He pair potentials, to address the $4s4p$ $^1$P$_1 \leftarrow 4s^2$ $^1$S$_0$ transition of the attached Ca atom, finding a fairly good agreement with absorption experimental data. We have studied the drop structure as a function of the position of the Ca atom with respect of the center of mass of the helium moiety. The interplay between the density oscillations arising from the helium intrinsic structure and the density oscillations produced by the impurity in its neighborhood plays a role in the determination of the equilibrium state, and hence in the solvation properties of alkaline earth atoms. In a case of study, the thermal motion of the impurity within the drop surface region has been analyzed in a semi-quantitative way. We have found that, although the atomic shift shows a sizeable dependence on the impurity location, the thermal effect is statistically small, contributing by about a 10% to the line broadening. The structure of vortices attached to the calcium atom has been also addressed, and its effect on the calcium absorption spectrum discussed. At variance with previous theoretical predictions, we conclude that spectroscopic experiments on Ca atoms attached to $^4$He drops will be likely unable to detect the presence of quantized vortices in helium nanodrops.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2006

Electron bubbles in liquid helium: infrared-absorption spectrum

Within Density Functional Theory, we have calculated the energy of the transitions from the ground state to the first two excited states in the electron bubbles in liquid helium at pressures from zero to about the solidification pressure. For $^4$He at low temperatures, our results are in very good agreement with infrared absorption experiments. Above a temperature of $\sim 2$ K, we overestimate the energy of the $1s-1p$ transition. We attribute this to the break down of the Franck-Condon principle due to the presence of helium vapor inside the bubble. Our results indicate that the $1s-2p$ transition energies are sensitive not only to the size of the electron bubble, but also to its surface thickness. We also present results for the infrared transitions in the case of liquid $^3$He, for which we lack of experimental data.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2001

Quantized vortices in mixed 3He-4He drops

Using density functional theory, we investigate the structure of mixed $^3$He$_{N_3}$-$^4$He$_{N_4}$ droplets with an embedded impurity (Xe atom or HCN molecule) which pins a quantized vortex line. We find that the dopant+vortex+$^4$He$_{N_4}$ complex, which in a previous work [F. Dalfovo {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 85}, 1028 (2000)] was found to be energetically stable below a critical size $N_{\rm cr}$, is robust against the addition of $^3$He. While $^3$He atoms are distributed along the vortex line and on the surface of the $^4$He drop, the impurity is mostly coated by $^4$He atoms. Results for $N_4=500$ and a number of $^3$He atoms ranging from 0 to 100 are presented, and the binding energy of the dopant to the vortex line is determined.

cond-mat↗

arXiv2000

Pinning of quantized vortices in helium drop by dopant atoms and molecules

Using a density functional method, we investigate the properties of liquid 4He droplets doped with atoms (Ne and Xe) and molecules (SF_6 and HCN). We consider the case of droplets having a quantized vortex pinned to the dopant. A liquid drop formula is proposed that accurately describes the total energy of the complex and allows one to extrapolate the density functional results to large N. For a given impurity, we find that the formation of a dopant+vortex+4He_N complex is energetically favored below a critical size N_cr. Our result support the possibility to observe quantized vortices in helium droplets by means of spectroscopic techniques.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1998

The structure of large 3He-4He mixed drops around a dopant molecule

We have investigated how helium atoms are distributed within a mixed $^3$He$_{N_3}$-$^4$He$_{N_4}$ large drop with $N_3 \gg N_4$. For drops doped with a SF$_6$ molecule or a Xe atom, we have found that the number of $^3$He atoms within the volume containing the first two solvation shells increases when $N_4$ decreases in a way such that these dopants may be in a superfluid environment for $N_4 \geq$ 60, which gradually disappears as $N_4$ decreases. The result is in qualitative agreement with recent experimental data.

cond-mat↗