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arXiv:1310.1818 · Physical Review A

Tunable Landau-Zener transitions in a spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate

Abraham J. Olson, Su-Ju Wang, Robert Niffenegger, Chuan-Hsun Li, Chris H. Greene, Yong P. Chen

Published Jul 17, 2014• 175 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The Landau-Zener (LZ) transition is one of the most fundamental phenomena in quantum dynamics. It describes nonadiabatic transitions between quantum states near an avoided crossing that can occur in diverse physical systems. Here we report experimental measurements and tuning of LZ transitions between the dressed eigenlevels of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) that is synthetically spin-orbit (SO) coupled. We measure the transition probability as the BEC is accelerated through the SO avoided crossing and study its dependence on the coupling between the diabatic (bare) states, eigenlevel slope, and eigenstate velocity---the three parameters of the LZ model that are independently controlled in our experiments. Furthermore, we performed time-resolved measurements to demonstrate the breaking down of the spin-momentum locking of the spin-orbit-coupled BEC in the nonadiabatic regime, and we determined the diabatic switching time of the LZ transitions. Our observations show quantitative agreement with the LZ model and numerical simulations of the quantum dynamics in the quasimomentum space. The tunable LZ transition may be exploited to enable a spin-dependent atomtronic transistor.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.90.013616

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The Landau-Zener (LZ) transition is one of the most fundamental phenomena in quantum dynamics. It describes nonadiabatic transitions between quantum states near an avoided crossing that can occur in diverse physical systems. Here we report experimental measurements and tuning of LZ transitions between the dressed eigenlevels of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) that is synthetically spin-orbit (SO) coupled. We measure the transition probability as the BEC is accelerated through the SO avoided crossing and study its dependence on the coupling between the diabatic (bare) states, eigenlevel slope, and eigenstate velocity---the three parameters of the LZ model that are independently controlled in our experiments. Furthermore, we performed time-resolved measurements to demonstrate the breaking down of the spin-momentum locking of the spin-orbit-coupled BEC in the nonadiabatic regime, and we determined the diabatic switching time of the LZ transitions. Our observations show quantitative agreement with the LZ model and numerical simulations of the quantum dynamics in the quasimomentum space. The tunable LZ transition may be exploited to enable a spin-dependent atomtronic transistor.
Nonlinear Landau-Zener tunneling is an important nonlinear phenomenon. We propose to stimulate the nonlinear tunneling in a spin-orbit-coupled spinor Bose-Einstein condensate. The system provides an experimentally tunable nonlinearity as well as multiple avoided crossings with tunable gap size in nonlinear dispersion relations. The nonlinearity generates tilted cusp and loop structures around the avoided crossings, and the physical consequence of these nonlinear structures is the nonlinear Landau-Zener tunneling. The spin-momentum locking induced by the spin-orbit coupling leads to a time-resolved observation of the nonlinear tunneling by measuring atom populations.
Abstract The effects of modulating spin-orbit coupled Bose–Einstein condensates are analytically studied. A sinusoidal driving of the coupling amplitude is shown to induce significant changes in the energy bands and in the associated spin-momentum locking. Moreover, in agreement with recent experimental results, gravitational acceleration of the modulated system is found to generate transitions between the modified energy bands. The applicability of the Landau–Zener (LZ) model to the understanding of the experimental findings is rigorously traced. Through a sequence of unitary transformations and the reduction to the spin space, the modulated Hamiltonian, with the gravitational potential incorporated, is shown to correspond to an extended version of the LZ scenario. The generalization of the basic LZ model takes place along two lines. First, the dimensionality is enlarged to combine the description of the external dynamics with the internal-state characterization. Second, the model is extended to incorporate two avoided crossings emerging from the changes induced in the energy bands by the modulation. Our approach allows a first-principle derivation of the effective model-system parameters. The obtained analytical results provide elements to control the transitions.
We analytically study the effect of gravitational and harmonic forces on ultracold atoms with synthetic spin-orbit coupling (SOC). In particular, we focus on the recently observed transitions between internal states induced by acceleration of the external modes. Our description corresponds to a generalized version of the Landau-Zener (LZ) model: the dimensionality is enlarged to combine the quantum treatment of the external variables with the internal-state characterization; additionally, atomic-interaction effects are considered. The emergence of the basic model is analytically traced. Namely, by using a sequence of unitary transformations and a subsequent reduction to the spin space, the SOC Hamiltonian, with the gravitational potential incorporated, is exactly converted into the primary LZ scenario. Moreover, the transitions induced by harmonic acceleration are approximately cast into the framework of the basic LZ model through a complete analytical procedure. We evaluate how the validity of our picture depends on the system preparation and on the magnitude of atomic-interaction effects. The identification of the regime of applicability and the rigorous characterization of the parameters of the effective model provide elements to control the transitions.
We investigate the nonadiabatic dynamics of a driven spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate in both weak and strong driven force. It is shown that the standard Landau-Zener (LZ) tunneling fails in the regime of weak driven force and/or strong spin-orbital coupling, where the full nonadiabatic dynamics requires a new mechanism through multichannel effects. Beyond the semiclassical approach, our numerical and analytical results show an oscillating power-law decay in the quantum limit, different from the exponential decay in the semiclassical limit of the LZ effect. Furthermore, the condensate density profile is found to be dynamically fragmented by the multichannel effects and enhanced by interaction effects. Our work therefore provides a complete picture to understand the nonadiabatic dynamics of a spin-orbit coupled condensate, including various ranges of driven force and interaction effects through multichannel interference. The experimental indication of these nonadiabatic dynamics is also discussed.
We investigate the Landau-Zener (LZ) process in spin-orbit coupled systems of single or multiple two-level (spin-12\frac{1}{2}21​) particles. The coupling between internal spin states and external vibrational states, a simple spin-orbit coupling (SOC), is induced by applying a spin-dependent harmonic trap. Because of the SOC, the single-particle energy-level structures are modified by the Franck-Condon (FC) effects, in which some avoided energy-level-crossings (ELCs) are almost closed and some ELCs are opened. The close of avoided ELCs and the open of ELCs result in the FC blockade and the vibrational transitions, respectively. For a given low sweeping rate, the sequential LZ transitions of ladder-like population transition can be induced by strong SOC. We derive an analytical formula for the final population which is well consistent with the numerical results. For a given strong SOC, the sequential LZ transitions are submerged in the non-adiabatic transitions if the sweeping rate is sufficiently high. Further, we study LZ transitions of multiple interacting two-level Bose particles in a spin-dependent harmonic trap. The interplay between the SOC effects and the interaction effects is explored.
A comprehensive study of the tunneling dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a tilted periodic potential is presented. We report numerical and experimental results on time-resolved measurements of the Landau-Zener tunneling of ultracold atoms introduced by the tilt, which experimentally is realized by accelerating the lattice. The use of different protocols enables us to access the tunneling probability, numerically as well as experimentally, in two different bases, namely, the adiabatic basis and the diabatic basis. The adiabatic basis corresponds to the eigenstates of the lattice, and the diabatic one to the free-particle momentum eigenstates. Our numerical and experimental results are compared with existing two-state Landau-Zener models.