Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:0908.0692 · Physical Review Letters

Coherent Ratchets in Driven Bose-Einstein Condensates

C. E. Creffield, Fernando Sols

Published Nov 12, 2009• 28 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We study the response of a Bose-Einstein condensate to an unbiased periodic driving potential. By controlling the space and time symmetries of the driving we show how a directed current can be induced, producing a coherent quantum ratchet. Weak driving induces a regular behavior, and space and time symmetries must both be broken to produce a current. For strong driving, the behavior becomes chaotic and the resulting effective irreversibility means that it is unnecessary to explicitly break time symmetry. Spatial asymmetry alone is then sufficient to produce the ratchet effect, even in the absence of interactions, and although the system remains completely coherent.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.103.200601

Related papers

Controlling the momentum current of an off-resonant ratchet

Rajendra K. Shrestha, Jiating Ni, Wa Kun Lam +2 more

We experimentally investigate the phenomenon of a quantum ratchet created by exposing a Bose-Einstein condensate to short pulses of a potential which is periodic in both space and time. Such a ratchet is manifested by a directed current of particles, even though there is an absence of a net bias force. We confirm a recent theoretical prediction [M. Sadgrove and S. Wimberger, New J. Phys. 11, 083027 (2009)] that the current direction can be controlled by experimental parameters which leave the underlying symmetries of the system unchanged. We demonstrate that this behavior can be understood using a single variable containing many of the experimental parameters and thus the ratchet current is describable using a single universal scaling law.

arXiv:1210.6025•Physical Review A•Oct 16, 2012•19 citations

Directed Transport of Atoms in a Hamiltonian Quantum Ratchet

Tobias Salger, Sebastian Kling, Tim Hecking +3 more

Classical ratchet potentials, which alternate a driving potential with periodic random dissipative motion, can account for the operation of biological motors. We demonstrate the operation of a quantum ratchet, which differs from classical ratchets in that dissipative processes are absent within the observation time of the system (Hamiltonian regime). An atomic rubidium Bose-Einstein condensate is exposed to a sawtooth-like optical lattice potential, whose amplitude is periodically modulated in time. The ratchet transport arises from broken spatiotemporal symmetries of the driven potential, resulting in a desymmetrization of transporting eigenstates (Floquet states). The full quantum character of the ratchet transport was demonstrated by the measured atomic current oscillating around a nonzero stationary value at longer observation times, resonances occurring at positions determined by the photon recoil, and dependence of the transport current on the initial phase of the driving potential.

arXiv:0912.0102•Science•Nov 27, 2009•223 citations

Comment on “Coherent Ratchets in Driven Bose-Einstein Condensates”

Giuliano Benenti, Giulio Casati, S. Denisov +4 more

C. E. Creffield and F. Sols (Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 200601 (2009)) recently reported finite, directed time-averaged ratchet current, for a noninteracting quantum particle in a periodic potential even when time-reversal symmetry holds. As we explain in this Comment, this result is incorrect, that is, time-reversal symmetry implies a vanishing current.

arXiv:0912.3667•Physical Review Letters•Jun 3, 2010•8 citations

Interaction-induced quantum ratchet in a Bose-Einstein condensate

Dario Poletti, Giuliano Benenti, Giulio Casati +1 more

We study the dynamics of a dilute Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a toroidal trap and exposed to a pair of periodically flashed optical lattices. We first prove that in the noninteracting case this system can present a quantum symmetry which forbids the ratchet effect classically expected. We then show how many-body atom-atom interactions, treated within the mean-field approximation, can break this quantum symmetry, thus generating directed transport.

arXiv:cond-mat/0609535•Physical Review A•Aug 24, 2007•23 citations

Controlling directed transport of matter-wave solitons using the ratchet effect

M. Rietmann, R. Carretero-González, Ricardo Chacón

We demonstrate that directed transport of bright solitons formed in a quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate can be reliably controlled by tailoring a weak optical lattice potential, biharmonic in both space and time, in accordance with the degree of symmetry breaking mechanism. By considering the regime where matter-wave solitons are narrow compared to the lattice period, (i) we propose an analytical estimate for the dependence of the directed soliton current on the biharmonic potential parameters that is in good agreement with numerical experiments, and (ii) we show that the dependence of the directed soliton current on the number of atoms is a consequence of the ratchet universality.

Physical Review A•May 16, 2011•33 citations

Weakly driven quantum coherent ratchets in cold-atom systems

Martín Heimsoth, C. E. Creffield, Fernando Sols

We present an analytical study of the response of cold atoms in an optical lattice to a weak time- and space-asymmetric periodic driving signal. In the noninteracting limit, and for a finite set of resonant frequencies, we show how a coherent, long-lasting ratchet current results from the interference between first- and second-order processes. In those cases, a suitable three-level model can account for the entire dynamics, yielding surprisingly good agreement with numerically exact results for weak and moderately strong driving.

arXiv:1003.5868•Physical Review A•Aug 12, 2010•19 citations
We study the response of a Bose-Einstein condensate to an unbiased periodic driving potential. By controlling the space and time symmetries of the driving we show how a directed current can be induced, producing a coherent quantum ratchet. Weak driving induces a regular behavior, and space and time symmetries must both be broken to produce a current. For strong driving, the behavior becomes chaotic and the resulting effective irreversibility means that it is unnecessary to explicitly break time symmetry. Spatial asymmetry alone is then sufficient to produce the ratchet effect, even in the absence of interactions, and although the system remains completely coherent.
We experimentally investigate the phenomenon of a quantum ratchet created by exposing a Bose-Einstein condensate to short pulses of a potential which is periodic in both space and time. Such a ratchet is manifested by a directed current of particles, even though there is an absence of a net bias force. We confirm a recent theoretical prediction [M. Sadgrove and S. Wimberger, New J. Phys. 11, 083027 (2009)] that the current direction can be controlled by experimental parameters which leave the underlying symmetries of the system unchanged. We demonstrate that this behavior can be understood using a single variable containing many of the experimental parameters and thus the ratchet current is describable using a single universal scaling law.
Classical ratchet potentials, which alternate a driving potential with periodic random dissipative motion, can account for the operation of biological motors. We demonstrate the operation of a quantum ratchet, which differs from classical ratchets in that dissipative processes are absent within the observation time of the system (Hamiltonian regime). An atomic rubidium Bose-Einstein condensate is exposed to a sawtooth-like optical lattice potential, whose amplitude is periodically modulated in time. The ratchet transport arises from broken spatiotemporal symmetries of the driven potential, resulting in a desymmetrization of transporting eigenstates (Floquet states). The full quantum character of the ratchet transport was demonstrated by the measured atomic current oscillating around a nonzero stationary value at longer observation times, resonances occurring at positions determined by the photon recoil, and dependence of the transport current on the initial phase of the driving potential.
We demonstrate that directed transport of bright solitons formed in a quasi-one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate can be reliably controlled by tailoring a weak optical lattice potential, biharmonic in both space and time, in accordance with the degree of symmetry breaking mechanism. By considering the regime where matter-wave solitons are narrow compared to the lattice period, (i) we propose an analytical estimate for the dependence of the directed soliton current on the biharmonic potential parameters that is in good agreement with numerical experiments, and (ii) we show that the dependence of the directed soliton current on the number of atoms is a consequence of the ratchet universality.
We present an analytical study of the response of cold atoms in an optical lattice to a weak time- and space-asymmetric periodic driving signal. In the noninteracting limit, and for a finite set of resonant frequencies, we show how a coherent, long-lasting ratchet current results from the interference between first- and second-order processes. In those cases, a suitable three-level model can account for the entire dynamics, yielding surprisingly good agreement with numerically exact results for weak and moderately strong driving.