arXiv subjects

Xiaoling Cui

Publications and source records attributed to Xiaoling Cui.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Quartet Superfluid in Two-dimensional Mass-imbalanced Fermi Mixtures

Quartet superfluid (QSF) is a distinct type of fermion superfluidity that exhibits high-order correlation beyond the conventional BCS pairing paradigm. In this Letter, we report the emergent QSF in 2D mass-imbalanced Fermi mixtures with two-body contact interactions. This is facilitated by the formation of quartet bound state in vacuum that consists of a light atom and three heavy fermions. For an optimized heavy-light number ratio $3:1$, we identify QSF as the ground state in a considerable parameter regime of mass imbalance and 2D coupling strength. Its unique high-order correlation can be manifested in the momentum-space crystallization of pairing field and density distribution of heavy fermions. Our results can be readily detected in Fermi-Fermi mixtures nowadays realized in cold atoms laboratories, and meanwhile shed light on exotic superfluidity in a broad context of mass-imbalanced fermion mixtures.

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arXiv2023

Ultrastable super-Tonks-Girardeau gases under weak dipolar interactions

The highly excited super-Tonks-Girardeau (sTG) gas was recently observed to be extremely stable in the presence of a weak dipolar repulsion. Here we reveal the underlying reason for this mysterious phenomenon. By exactly solving the trapped small clusters with both contact and dipolar interactions, we show that the reason lies in the distinct spectral responses between sTG gas and its decaying channel (bound state) when turn on a weak dipolar interaction. Specifically, a tiny dipolar force can produce a visible energy shift for the localized bound state, but can hardly affect the extended sTG branch. As a result, the avoided level crossing between two branches is greatly modified in both location and width in the parameter axis of coupling strength, leading to a more (less) stable sTG gas for a repulsive (attractive) dipolar force. These results, consistent with experimental observations, are found to robustly apply to both bosonic and fermionic systems.

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arXiv2023

Liquid-gas transition and coexistence in ground-state bosons with spin twist

We study the thermodynamic liquid-gas transition and coexistence (LGTC) for ground-state bosons under contact interactions. We find that the LGTC can be facilitated by the mismatch of spin polarization, dubbed "spin twist," between single-particle and interaction channels of bosons with spin degrees of freedom. Such a spin twist uniquely stabilizes the gas phase by creating an effective repulsion for low-density bosons, thereby enabling LGTC in the presence of a quantum droplet at a much larger density. We have demonstrated the scheme for binary bosons subject to Rabi coupling and magnetic detuning, where the liquid-gas transition can be conveniently tuned and their coexistence can be characterized by a discontinuous density profile in a harmonic trap. The spin twist scheme for LGTC can be generalized to a wide class of quantum systems with competing single-particle and interaction orders.

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arXiv2023

Quantum-Fluctuation-Driven Dynamics of Droplet Splashing, Recoiling and Deposition in Ultracold Binary Bose Gases

Droplet impact on a surface is practically relevant to a variety of fields in nature and industry, while a complete control of its outcomes remains challenging due to various unmanageable factors. In this work, we propose the quantum simulation of droplet impact outcomes in the platform of ultracold atoms. Specifically, we study the quantum-fluctuation-driven dynamics (QFDD) of two-dimensional Bose-Bose mixtures from an initial Townes soliton towards the formation of a quantum droplet. By tuning the fluctuation energy of the initial Townes state through its size and number, the subsequent QFDD can produce various outcomes including splashing, recoiling, and deposition, similar to those in droplet impact dynamics. We have utilized the Weber number to identify the thresholds of splashing and recoiling, and further established a universal scaling law between the maximum spreading factor and the Weber number in the recoiling regime. In addition, we show that the residual QFDD in the deposition regime can be used to probe the collective breathing modes of a quantum droplet. Our results reveal a mechanism for the droplet impact outcomes, which can be directly tested in cold-atom experiments and can pave the way for exploring intriguing droplet dynamics in a clean and fully controlled quantum setting.

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arXiv2022

Bridging quantum many-body scar and quantum integrability in Ising chains with transverse and longitudinal fields

Quantum many-body scar (QMBS) and quantum integrability(QI) have been recognized as two distinct mechanisms for the breakdown of eigenstate thermalization hypothesis(ETH) in an isolated system. In this work, we reveal a smooth route to connect these two ETH-breaking mechanisms in the Ising chain with transverse and longitudinal fields. Specifically, starting from an initial Ising anti-ferromagnetic state, we find that the dynamical system undergoes a smooth non-thermal crossover from QMBS to QI by changing the Ising coupling($J$) and longitudinal field($h$) simultaneously while keeping their ratio fixed, which corresponds to the Rydberg Hamiltonian with an arbitrary nearest-neighbor repulsion. Deviating from this ratio, we further identify a continuous thermalization trajectory in ($h,J$) plane that is exactly given by the Ising transition line, signifying an intimate relation between thermalization and quantum critical point. Finally, we map out a completely different dynamical phase diagram starting from an initial ferromagnetic state, where the thermalization is shown to be equally facilitated by the resonant spin-flip at special ratios of $J$ and $h$. By bridging QMBS and QI in Ising chains, our results demonstrate the breakdown of ETH in much broader physical settings, which also suggest an alternative way to characterize quantum phase transition via thermalization in non-equilibrium dynamics.

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arXiv2022

Engineering Non-Hermitian Skin Effect with Band Topology in Ultracold Gases

Non-Hermitian skin effect(NHSE) describes a unique non-Hermitian phenomenon that all eigen-modes are localized near the boundary, and has profound impact on a wide range of bulk properties. In particular, topological systems with NHSE have stimulated extensive research interests recently, given the fresh theoretical and experimental challenges therein. Here we propose a readily implementable scheme for achieving NHSE with band topology in ultracold gases. Specifically, the scheme realizes the one-dimensional optical Raman lattice with two types of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and an additional laser-induced dissipation. By tuning the dissipation and the SOC strengths, NHSE and band topology can be individually controlled such that they can coexist in a considerable parameter regime. To identify the topological phase in the presence of NHSE, we have restored the bulk-boundary correspondence by invoking the non-Bloch band theory, and discussed the dynamic signals for detection. Our work serves as a guideline for engineering topological lattices with NHSE in the highly tunable environment of cold atoms, paving the way for future studies of exotic non-Hermitian physics in a genuine quantum many-body setting.

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arXiv2022

Non-Hermitian skin effect in a spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate

We study a Bose-Einstein condensate of ultracold atoms subject to a non-Hermitian spin-orbit coupling, where the system acquires non-Hermitian skin effect under the interplay of spin-orbit coupling and laser-induced atom loss. The presence of the non-Hermitian skin effect is confirmed through its key signatures in term of the spectral winding under the periodic boundary condition, the accumulation of eigen wavefunctions at boundaries under an open boundary condition, as well as bulk dynamics signaled by a directional flow. We show that the bulk dynamics in particular serves as a convenient signal for experimental detection. The impact of interaction and trapping potentials are also discussed based on non-Hermitian Gross-Pitaevskii equations. Our work demonstrates that the non-Hermitian skin effect and its rich implications in topology, dynamics and beyond are well within reach of current cold-atom experiments.

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arXiv2022

Emergence of Crystalline Few-body Correlations in Mass-imbalanced Fermi Polarons

Polarons can serve as an ideal platform to identify few-body correlations in tackling complex many-body problems. In this work, we reveal various crystalline few-body correlations smoothly emergent from the mass-imbalanced Fermi polarons in two dimensions. A unified variational approach up to three particle-hole excitations allows us to extract the dominant dimer, trimer or tetramer correlation in a single framework. When the fermion-impurity mass ratio is beyond certain critical value, the Fermi polaron is found to undergo a smooth crossover, instead of a sharp transition, from the polaronic to trimer and tetramer regimes as increasing the fermion-impurity attraction. The emergent trimer and tetramer correlations result in the momentum-space crystallization of particle-hole excitations featuring a stable diagonal or triangular structure, as can be directly probed through the density-density correlation of majority fermions. Our results shed light on the intriguing quantum phases in the mass-imbalanced Fermi-Fermi mixtures beyond the pairing superfluid paradigm.

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arXiv2022

Universal tetramer and pentamer in two-dimensional fermionic mixtures

We study the emergence of universal tetramer and pentamer bound states in the two-dimensional $(N+1)$ system, which consists of $N$ identical heavy fermions interacting with a light atom. We show that the critical heavy-light mass ratio to support a ($3+1$) tetramer below the trimer threshold is $3.38$, and to support a ($4+1$) pentamer below the tetramer threshold is $5.14$. While these ground state tetramer and pentamer are both with zero total angular momentum, they exhibit very different density distributions and correlations in momentum space, due to their distinct angular momentum decompositions in the dimer-fermion frame. These universal bound states can be accessible by a number of Fermi-Fermi mixtures now realized in cold atoms laboratories, which also suggest novel few-body correlations dominant in their corresponding many-body systems.

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arXiv2022

Quantum fluctuations on top of a $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric Bose-Einstein Condensate

We investigate the effects of quantum fluctuations in a parity-time($\mathcal{PT}$) symmetric two-species Bose-Einstein Condensate(BEC). It is found that the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetry, though preserved by the macroscopic condensate, can be spontaneously broken by its Bogoliubov quasi-particles under quantum fluctuations. The associated $\mathcal{PT}$-breaking transitions in the Bogoliubov spectrum can be conveniently tuned by the interaction anisotropy in spin channels and the strength of $\mathcal{PT}$ potential. In the $\mathcal{PT}$-unbroken regime, the real Bogoliubov modes are generally gapped, in contrast to the gapless phonon mode in Hermitian case. Moreover, the presence of $\mathcal{PT}$ potential is found to enhance the mean-field collapse and thereby intrigue the droplet formation after incorporating the repulsive force from quantum fluctuations. These remarkable interplay effects of $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetry and interaction can be directly probed in cold atoms experiments, which shed light on related quantum phenomena in general $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric systems.

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arXiv2022

Lee-Huang-Yang effects in the ultracold mixture of $^{23}$Na and $^{87}$Rb with attractive interspecies interactions

The beyond-mean-field Lee-Huang-Yang (LHY) correction is ubiquitous in dilute ultracold quantum gases. However, its effects are often elusive due to the typically much larger influence of the mean-field energy. In this work, we study an ultracold mixture of $^{23}$Na and $^{87}$Rb with tunable attractive interspecies interactions. The LHY effects manifest in the formation of self-bound quantum liquid droplets and the expansion dynamics of the gas-phase sample. A liquid-to-gas phase diagram is obtained by measuring the critical atom numbers below which the self-bound behavior disappears. In stark contrast to trapped gas-phase condensates, the gas-phase mixture formed following the liquid-to-gas phase transition shows an anomalous expansion featuring a larger release energy for increasing mean-field attractions.

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arXiv2021

Effective scattering and Efimov physics in the presence of two-body dissipation

Two-body dissipation usually gives rise to a complex interaction. Here, we study the effect of two-body dissipation on few-body physics, including the fundamental two-body effective scattering and the three-body Efimov physics. By employing a two-channel model that incorporates the decay of closed-channel molecules (generating the two-body dissipation), we explicitly relate the real and imaginary part of the inverse scattering length (a_s^{-1}) to closed-channel detuning and decay rate. In particular, we show that the imaginary part of a_s^{-1} is given by the product of the molecule decay rate and the effective range. Such complex scattering length is found to generate an additional imaginary Coulomb potential when three atoms come close to each other, thereby suppressing the formation of trimer bound states and modifying the conventional discrete scaling in Efimov physics.

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arXiv2021

Borromean droplet in three-component ultracold Bose gases

Borromean ring refers to a peculiar structure where three rings are linked together while any two of them are unlinked. Here we propose the realization of its quantum mechanical analog in a many-body system of three-component ultracold bosons. Namely, we identify the {\it Borromean droplet}, where only the ternary bosons can form a self-bound droplet while any binary subsystems cannot. Its formation is facilitated by an additional attractive force induced by the density fluctuation of a third component, which enlarges the mean-field collapse region in comparison to the binary case and renders the formation of Borromean droplet after incorporating the repulsive force from quantum fluctuations. Outside the Borromean regime, the competition between ternary and binary droplets leads to an interesting phenomenon of droplet phase separation, manifested by double plateaus in the density profile. We further show that the transition between different droplets and gas phase can be conveniently tuned by boson numbers and interaction strengths. The study reveals the possibility of Borromean binding in the many-body world and sheds light on more intriguing many-body bound state formed in multi-component systems.

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arXiv2021

Nature of polaron-molecule transition in Fermi polarons

In this work, we explore the polaron and molecule physics by utilizing a unified variational ansatz with up to two particle-hole(p-h) excitations(V-2ph). We confirm the existence of a first-order transition in 3D and 2D Fermi polarons, and show that the nature of such transition lies in an energy competition between systems with different momenta ${\mathbf Q}=0$ and $|{\mathbf Q}|=k_F$, here ${\mathbf Q}$ is defined as the momentum of Fermi polaron system with respect to the Fermi sea of majority fermions (with Fermi momentum $k_F$). The literally proposed molecule ansatz is identified as an asymptotic limit of $|{\mathbf Q}|=k_F$ state in strong coupling regime, which implies a huge $SO(3)$(for 3D) or $SO(2)$ (for 2D) ground state degeneracy in this regime. The recognization of such degeneracy is crucially important for evaluating the molecule occupation in realistic systems with finite impurity density and at finite temperature. To compare with recent experiment of 3D Fermi polarons, we have calculated various physical quantities under the V-2ph framework and obtained results that are in good agreements with experimental data in the weak coupling and near resonance regime. Further, to check the validity of our conclusion in 2D, we have adopted a different variational method based on the Gaussian sample of high-order p-h excitations(V-Gph), and found the same conclusion on the nature of polaron-molecule transition therein. For 1D system, the V-2ph method predicts no sharp transition and the ground state is always at ${\mathbf Q}=0$ sector, consistent with exact Bethe ansatz solution. The presence/absence of polaron-molecule transition is analyzed to be closely related to the interplay effect of Pauli-blocking and p-h excitations in different dimensions.

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arXiv2021

Droplet under confinement: Competition and coexistence with soliton bound state

We study the stability of quantum droplet and its associated phase transitions in ultracold Bose-Bose mixtures uniformly confined in quasi-two-dimension. We show that the confinement-induced boundary effect can be significant when increasing the atom number or reducing the confinement length, which destabilizes the quantum droplet towards the formation of a soliton bound state. In particular, as increasing the atom number we find the reentrance of soliton ground state, while the droplet is stabilized only within a finite number window that sensitively depends on the confinement length. Near the droplet-soliton transitions, they can coexist with each other as two local minima in the energy landscape. Take the two-species $^{39}$K bosons for instance, we have mapped out the phase diagram for droplet-soliton transition and coexistence in terms of atom number and confinement length. The revealed intriguing competition between quantum droplet and soliton under confinement can be readily probed in current cold atoms experiments.

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arXiv2020

Fermi polaron revisited: polaron-molecule transition and coexistence

We revisit the polaron-molecule transition in three-dimensional(3D) fermion systems using the well-established variational approach. The molecule is found to be intrinsically unstable against lowest-order particle-hole excitations, and it can only approximate the ground state of impurity system with finite total momentum in the strong coupling regime. The polaron-molecule transition can therefore be reinterpreted as a first-order transition between single impurity systems with different total momenta. Within certain interaction window near their transition, both states appear as local minima in the dispersion curve, indicating they can coexist in a realistic system. We have further confirmed the polaron-molecule coexistence in the presence of a finite impurity concentration and at low temperature, which directly leads to a smooth polaron-molecule transition as observed in recent experiments of 3D ultracold Fermi gases. Our results have provided an unambiguous physical picture for the competition and conversion between polaron and molecule, and also shed light on Fermi polaron properties in low dimensions.

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arXiv2020

Dissipation-facilitated molecules in a Fermi gas with non-Hermitian spin-orbit coupling

We study the impact of non-Hermiticity on the molecule formation in a two-component spin-orbit-coupled Fermi gas near a wide Feshbach resonance. Under an experimentally feasible configuration where the two-photon Raman process is dissipative, the Raman-induced synthetic spin-orbit coupling acquires a complex strength. Remarkably, dissipation of the system facilitates the formation and binding of molecules, which, despite their dissipative nature and finite lifetime, exist over a wider parameter regime than in the corresponding Hermitian system. These dissipation-facilitated molecules can be probed by the inverse radio-frequency (rf) spectroscopy, provided the Raman lasers are blue detuned to the excited state. The effects of dissipation manifest in the rf spectra as shifted peaks with broadened widths, which serve as a clear experimental signature. Our results, readily observable in current cold-atom experiments, shed light on the fascinating interplay of non-Hermiticity and interaction in few- and many-body open quantum systems.

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arXiv2020

Few-body solutions under spin-exchange interaction: magnetic bound state and the Kondo screening effect

Motivated by recent progresses on ultracold alkaline-earth atoms towards the goal of simulating Kondo physics, in this work we exactly solve the few-body problem of one and two trapped fermions in one dimension interacting with a localized impurity under tunable spin-exchange interaction. It is found that depending on the sign of the spin-exchange coupling, ferromagnetic(FM) or anti-ferromagnetic(AFM), the attractive and repulsive branches can hold different magnetic structures. For the two fermions case, we demonstrate the Kondo screening effect for the attractive branch with AFM coupling, and show that such screening is absent for the ground state with FM coupling. Moreover, we find a sequence of FM upper branches in the AFM coupling side. These FM states are orthogonal to all other attractive branches and their wave functions feature a full spin-charge separation. The effect of an additional contact interaction and the extension of our results to many particles are also discussed. This work reveals the intriguing physics uniquely associated with the spin-exchange interaction in the few-body point of view, which are promisingly to be explored in the experiment of ultracold alkaline-earth atoms.

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