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arXiv:1105.5869 · Physical Review Letters

Quantum Tunneling of a Vortex between Two Pinning Potentials

Oleksandr Fialko, Ashton S. Bradley, Joachim Brand

Published Jan 3, 2012• 18 citations
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Abstract

A vortex can tunnel between two pinning potentials in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate on a time scale of the order of 1s under typical experimental conditions. This makes it possible to detect the tunneling experimentally. We calculate the tunneling rate by phenomenologically treating vortices as charged particles moving in an inhomogeneous magnetic field. The obtained results are in close agreement with numerical simulations based on the stochastic c-field theory.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.108.015301

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A vortex can tunnel between two pinning potentials in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate on a time scale of the order of 1s under typical experimental conditions. This makes it possible to detect the tunneling experimentally. We calculate the tunneling rate by phenomenologically treating vortices as charged particles moving in an inhomogeneous magnetic field. The obtained results are in close agreement with numerical simulations based on the stochastic c-field theory.
The tunneling rate ${t}_{v}∕\ensuremath{\hbar}$ of a vortex between two pinning sites (of strength V‾\overline{V}V separated by ddd) is computed using the Bogoliubov expansion of vortex wave-functions overlap. For BCS vortices, tunneling is suppressed beyond a few Fermi wavelengths. For Bose condensates, ${t}_{v}=\overline{V}\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}\mathrm{exp}(\ensuremath{-}\ensuremath{\pi}{n}_{s}{d}^{2}∕2)$, where ns{n}_{s}ns​ is the boson density. The analogy between vortex hopping in a superconducting film and two-dimensional electrons in a perpendicular magnetic field is exploited. We derive the variable range hopping temperature, below which vortex tunneling contributes to magnetoresistance. Using the ``quantum Hall insulator'' analogy we argue that the Hall conductivity (rather than the inverse Hall resistivity) measures the effective carrier density in domains of mobile vortices. Details of vortex wave functions and overlap calculations, and a general derivation of the Magnus coefficient for any wave function on the sphere, are provided in appendixes.
In this review, we give an overview of the experimental and theoretical advances in the physics of quantized vortices in dilute atomic-gas Bose--Einstein condensates in a trapping potential, especially focusing on experimental research activities and their theoretical interpretations. Making good use of the atom optical technique, the experiments have revealed many novel structural and dynamic properties of quantized vortices by directly visualizing vortex cores from an image of the density profiles. These results lead to a deep understanding of superfluid hydrodynamics of such systems. Typically, vortices are stabilized by a rotating potential created by a laser beam, magnetic field, and thermal gas. Finite size effects and inhomogeneity of the system, originating from the confinement by the trapping potential, yield unique vortex dynamics coupled with the collective excitations of the condensate. Measuring the frequencies of the collective modes is an accurate tool for clarifying the character of the vortex state. The topics included in this review are the mechanism of vortex formation, equilibrium properties, and dynamics of a single vortex and those of a vortex lattice in a rapidly rotating condensate.
We investigate the vortex-lattice structure for single- and two-component Bose-Einstein condensates in the presence of an optical lattice, which acts as a pinning potential for the vortices. The problem is considered in the mean-field quantum Hall regime, which is reached when the rotation frequency $\ensuremath{\Omega}$ of the condensate in a radially symmetric trap approaches the (radial) trapping frequency $\ensuremath{\omega}$ and the interactions between the atoms are weak. We determine the vortex-lattice phase diagram as a function of optical-lattice strength and geometry. In the limit of strong pinning the vortices are always pinned at the maxima of the optical-lattice potential, similar to the slow-rotation case. At intermediate pinning strength, however, due to the competition between interactions and pinning energy, a structure arises for the two-component case where the vortices are pinned on lines of minimal potential.
We study the vortex dynamics and vortex pinning effect in Bose-Einstein condensates in a rotating double-well trap potential and corotating optical lattice. We show that the vortex number does not diverge when the rotational frequency $\ensuremath{\Omega}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}1$ if the trap potential is of anisotropic double-well type. The critical rotational frequency as obtained from numerical simulations agrees very well with the value l/l\sqrt{l}/ll​/l for l=4l=4l=4, which supports the conjecture that surface modes with angular momentum l=4l=4l=4 are excited when the rotating condensate is trapped in a double-well potential. The vortex lattice structure in a rotating triple-well trap potential and its pinning show very interesting features. We show the existence and pinning of hidden vortices whose phase profile is similar to that of the visible vortices.
We predict three-dimensional vortex solitons in a Bose—Einstein condensate under a complex potential, which is the combination of a two-dimensional parabolic trap along the transverse radial direction and a one-dimensional optical-lattice potential along the z axis direction. The vortex solitons are built in the form of a layer-chain structure made of several fundamental vortices along the optical-lattice direction. This has not been reported before in the three-dimensional Bose—Einstein condensate. By using a combination of the energy density functional method with direct numerical simulation, we find three-dimensional vortex solitons with topological charges χ = 1, χ = 2, and χ = 3. Moreover, the macroscopic quantum tunneling and chirp phenomena of the vortex solitons are shown in the evolution. Therein, the occurrence of macroscopic quantum tunneling provides the possibility for the experimental realization of quantum tunneling. Specifically, we successfully manipulate the vortex solitons along the optical lattice direction. The stability limits for dragging the vortex solitons from an initial fixed position to a prescribed location are further pursued.
We consider an electron interacting with a Bose-Einstein condensate of atoms that can form negative ions. The binding energy Ea{E}_{a}Ea​ of an electron by a single neutral atom gives rise to a continuous band of electronic quantum states resulting from the process of charge exchange among the condensate atoms. When such a condensate is placed in between the two leads done from a material with Fermi energy close to Ea{E}_{a}Ea​, the lead electrons can tunnel through the condensate via this band thus resulting in the condensate electroconductance. It turns out that this process is very sensitive to the interatomic distance, and it gets strongly suppressed by the quantum fluctuations of the condensate density with respect to the prediction of the mean-field theory as the result. We adapt the standard field theory methods originally developed for description of a particle propagating through a disordered potential and present an exactly soluble analytical model of the process. In contrast with the standard description widely known in the theory of disordered systems, we take into account inelastic processes associated with quantum transitions in the condensate. Possibilities of the experimental observation of the phenomenon are discussed.