Multiresonant spinor dynamics in a Bose-Einstein condensate (original) (raw)

Dynamics of F=2 Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensates

Physical Review Letters, 2004

We experimentally investigate and analyze the rich dynamics in F=2 spinor Bose-Einstein condensates of 87 Rb. An interplay between mean-field driven spin dynamics and hyperfine-changing losses in addition to interactions with the thermal component is observed. In particular we measure conversion rates in the range of 10 −12 cm 3 s −1 for spin changing collisions within the F=2 manifold and spin-dependent loss rates in the range of 10 −13 cm 3 s −1 for hyperfine-changing collisions. From our data we observe a polar behavior in the F=2 ground state of 87 Rb, while we measure the F=1 ground state to be ferromagnetic. Furthermore we see a magnetization for condensates prepared with non-zero total spin.

Multi-second magnetic coherence in a single domain spinor Bose–Einstein condensate

New Journal of Physics, 2018

We describe a compact, robust and versatile system for studying the macroscopic spin dynamics in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate. Condensates of Rb 87 are produced by all-optical evaporation in a 1560 nm optical dipole trap, using a non-standard loading sequence that employs an ancillary 1529 nm beam for partial compensation of the strong differential light-shift induced by the dipole trap itself. We use near-resonant Faraday rotation probing to non-destructively track the condensate magnetization, and demonstrate few-Larmor-cycle tracking with no detectable degradation of the spin polarization. In the ferromagnetic F=1 ground state, we observe the spin orientation between atoms in the condensate is preserved, such that they precess all together like one large spin in the presence of a magnetic field. We characterize this dynamics in terms of the single-shot magnetic coherence times 1  and 2 *  , and observe them to be of several seconds, limited only by the residence time of the atoms in the trap. At the densities used, this residence is restricted only by one-body losses set by the vacuum conditions.

Collective excitations in cigar-shaped spin-orbit-coupled spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates

Physical Review A

We theoretically study the collective excitations of a spin-orbit-coupled spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate with antiferromagnetic spin-exchange interactions in a cigar-shaped trapping potential at zero and finite temperatures using the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory with Popov approximation. The collective modes at zero temperature are corroborated by the real-time evolution of the ground state subjected to a perturbation suitable to excite a density or a spin mode. We have also calculated a few low-lying modes analytically and found a very good agreement with the numerical results. We confirm the presence of excitations belonging to two broad categories, namely density, and spin excitations, based on the calculation of dispersion. The degeneracy between a pair of spin modes is broken by the spin-orbit coupling. At finite temperature, spin and density excitations show qualitatively different behavior as a function of temperature.

Spinor Dipolar Bose-Einstein Condensates: Classical Spin Approach

Physical Review Letters, 2007

Magnetic dipole-dipole interaction dominated Bose-Einstein condensates are discussed under spinful situations. We treat the spin degrees of freedom as a classical spin vector, approaching from large spin limit to obtain an effective minimal Hamiltonian; a version extended from a non-linear sigma model. By solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation we find several novel spin textures where the mass density and spin density are strongly coupled, depending upon trap geometries due to the long-range and anisotropic natures of the dipole-dipole interaction. PACS numbers: 03.75.Mn, 03.75.Hh, 67.57.Fg

Beliaev theory of spinor Bose–Einstein condensates

Annals of Physics, 2013

By generalizing the Green's function approach proposed by Beliaev [1, 2], we investigate the effect of quantum depletion on the energy spectra of elementary excitations in an F = 1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensate, in particular, of 87 Rb atoms in an external magnetic field. We find that quantum depletion increases the effective mass of magnons in the spin-wave excitations with quadratic dispersion relations. The enhancement factor turns out to be the same for both ferromagnetic and polar phases, and also independent of the magnitude of the external magnetic field. The lifetime of these magnons in a 87 Rb spinor BEC is shown to be much longer than that of phonons. We propose an experimental setup to measure the effective mass of these magnons in a spinor Bose gas by exploiting the effect of a nonlinear dispersion relation on the spatial expansion of a wave packet of transverse magnetization. This type of measurement has practical applications, for example, in precision magnetometry.

Spontaneously Modulated Spin Textures in a Dipolar Spinor Bose-Einstein Condensate

Physical Review Letters, 2008

Helical spin textures in a 87 Rb F = 1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensate are found to decay spontaneously toward a spatially modulated structure of spin domains. This evolution is ascribed to magnetic dipolar interactions that energetically favor the short-wavelength domains over the longwavelength spin helix. This is confirmed by eliminating the dipolar interactions by a sequence of rf pulses and observing a suppression of the formation of the short-range domains. This study confirms the significance of magnetic dipole interactions in degenerate 87 Rb F = 1 spinor gases.

Spinor Bose Condensates in Optical Traps

Physical Review Letters, 1998

In an optical trap, the ground state of spin-1 Bosons such as 23 Na, 39 K, and 87 Rb can be either a ferromagnetic or a "polar" state, depending on the scattering lengths in different angular momentum channel. The collective modes of these states have very different spin character and spatial distributions.

Spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensates in a double well

The European Physical Journal Special Topics, 2015

We study the quantum dynamics of a spin-orbit (SO) coupled Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a double-well potential inspired by the experimental protocol recently developed by NIST group. We focus on the regime where the number of atoms is very large and perform a two-mode approximation. An analytical solution of the two-site Bose-Hubbard-like Hamiltonian is found for several limiting cases, which range from a strong Raman coupling to a strong Josephson coupling, ending with the complete model in the presence of weak nonlinear interactions. Depending on the particular limit, different approaches are chosen: a mapping onto an SU (2) spin problem together with a Holstein-Primakoff transformation in the first two cases and a rotating wave approximation (RWA) when dealing with the complete model. The quantum evolution of the number difference of bosons with equal or different spin between the two wells is investigated in a wide range of parameters; finally the corresponding total atomic current and the spin current are computed. We show a spin Josephson effect which could be detected in experiments and employed to build up realistic devices.

Collective modes of trapped spinor Bose–Einstein condensates

Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics, 2017

We study the richer structures of quasi-one-dimensional Bogoliubov-de Genes collective excitations of F = 1 spinor Bose-Einstein condensate in a harmonic trap potential loaded in an optical lattice. Employing a perturbative method we report general analytical expressions for the confined collective polar and ferromagnetic Goldstone modes. In both cases the excited eigenfrequencies are given as function of the 1D effective coupling constants, trap frequency and optical lattice parameters. It is shown that the main contribution of the optical lattice laser intensity is to shift the confined phonon frequencies. Moreover, for high intensities, the excitation spectrum becomes independent of the self-interaction parameters. We reveal some features of the evolution for the Goldstone modes as well as the condensate densities from the ferromagnetic to the polar phases.

Long-time-scale dynamics of spin textures in a degenerate F=1 ^{87}Rb spinor Bose gas

Physical Review A, 2011

We investigate the long-term dynamics of spin textures prepared by cooling unmagnetized spinor gases of F = 1 87 Rb to quantum degeneracy, observing domain coarsening and a strong dependence of the equilibration dynamics on the quadratic Zeeman shift q. For small values of |q|, the textures arrive at a configuration independent of the initial spin-state composition, characterized by large length-scale spin domains, and the establishment of easy-axis (negative q) or easy-plane (positive q) magnetic anisotropy. For larger |q|, equilibration is delayed as the spin-state composition of the degenerate spinor gas remains close to its initial value. These observations support the mean-field equilibrium phase diagram predicted for a ferromagnetic spinor Bose-Einstein condensate, but also illustrate that equilibration is achieved under a narrow range of experimental settings, making the F = 1 87 Rb gas more suitable for studies of nonequilibrium quantum dynamics.