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arXiv:1411.3490

Generation and decay of persistent current in a toroidal Bose-Einstein condensate

A. I. Yakimenko, S. I. Vilchinskiĭ, Y. M. Bidasyuk, Yevhenii Kuriatnikov, Karyna Isaieva, Michael Weyrauch

Published Nov 13, 2014• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Persistent current, or "flow without friction", as well as quantum vortices are the hallmarks of superfluidity. Recently a very long-lived persistent flow of atoms has been experimentally observed in Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in a ring-shaped potential. This enables fundamental studies of superfluidity and may lead to applications in high-precision metrology and atomtronics. We overview our recent theoretical studies of the generation of the persistent current in a stirred toroidal atomic Bose-Einstein condensate, and discuss our new investigation of the hysteresis in the atomtronic circuit.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1411.3490

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Persistent current, or "flow without friction", as well as quantum vortices are the hallmarks of superfluidity. Recently a very long-lived persistent flow of atoms has been experimentally observed in Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in a ring-shaped potential. This enables fundamental studies of superfluidity and may lead to applications in high-precision metrology and atomtronics. We overview our recent theoretical studies of the generation of the persistent current in a stirred toroidal atomic Bose-Einstein condensate, and discuss our new investigation of the hysteresis in the atomtronic circuit.
Superfluidity is a remarkable phenomenon. Superfluidity was initially characterized by flow without friction, first seen in liquid helium in 1938, and has been studied extensively since. Superfluidity is believed to be related to, but not identical to Bose-Einstein condensation, a statistical mechanical phenomena predicted by Albert Einstein in 1924 based on the statistics of Satyendra Nath Bose, where bosonic atoms make a phase transition to form a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), a gas which has macroscopic occupation of a single quantum state. Developments in laser cooling of neutral atoms and the subsequent realization of Bose-Einstein condensates in ultracold gases have opened a new window into the study of superfluidity and its relation to Bose-Einstein condensation. In our atomic sodium BEC experiment, we studied superfluidity and dissipationless flow in an all-optical toroidal trap, constructed using the combination of a horizontal ``sheet''-like beam and vertical ``ring''-like beam, which, like a circuit loop, allows flow around the ring. On inducing a single quantum of circulation in the condensate, the smoothness and uniformity of the toroidal BEC enabled the sustaining of a persistent current lasting 40 seconds, limited by the lifetime of the BEC due to background gas pressure. This success set the stage for further experiments studying superfluidity. In a first set of experiments, we studied the stability of the persistent current by inserting a barrier in the flow path of the ring. The superflow stopped abruptly at a barrier strength such that the local flow velocity at the barrier exceeded a critical velocity, which supported decay via the creation of a vortex-antivortex pair. Our precise control in inducing and arresting superflow in the BEC is a first step toward studying other aspects of superfluidity, such as the effect of temperature and dimensionality. This thesis discusses these experiments and also details partial-transfer absorption imaging, an imaging technique developed in the course of this work.
Abstract Considerable progress in experimental studies of atomic gases in a toroidal geometry opens up novel prospects for the investigation of fundamental properties of superfluid states and creation of new configurations for atomtronic circuits. In particular, a setting with Bose–Einstein condensates loaded in a dual-ring trap suggests a possibility to consider the dynamics of tunneling between condensates with different angular momenta. Accordingly, we address the tunneling in a pair of coaxial three-dimensional (3D) ring-shaped condensates separated by a horizontal potential barrier. A truncated (finite-mode) Galerkin model and direct simulations of the underlying 3D Gross–Pitaevskii equation are used for the analysis of tunneling superflows driven by an initial imbalance in atomic populations of the rings. The superflows through the corresponding Bose–Josephson junction are strongly affected by persistent currents in the parallel rings. Josephson oscillations of the population imbalance and angular momenta in the rings are obtained for co-rotating states and non-rotating ones. On the other hand, the azimuthal structure of the tunneling flow demonstrates formation of Josephson vortices (fluxons) with zero net current through the junction for hybrid states , built of counter-rotating persistent currents in the coupled rings.
We have observed the persistent flow of Bose-condensed atoms in a toroidal trap. The flow persists without decay for up to 10 s, limited only by experimental factors such as drift and trap lifetime. The quantized rotation was initiated by transferring one unit variant Planck's over 2pi of the orbital angular momentum from Laguerre-Gaussian photons to each atom. Stable flow was only possible when the trap was multiply connected, and was observed with a Bose-Einstein condensate fraction as small as 20%. We also created flow with two units of angular momentum and observed its splitting into two singly charged vortices when the trap geometry was changed from multiply to simply connected.
The persistent flow of superfluids is essential for understanding the fundamental characteristics of superfluidity and shows promise for applications in high-precision metrology and atomtronics. We proposed a protocol for generating persistent flows with significant winding numbers by employing a geometric quench and leveraging two-dimensional (2D) quantum turbulence. By subjecting the trap potential to sudden geometric quenches to drive the system far from equilibrium, we can reveal intriguing nonequilibrium phenomena. Our study demonstrates that transitioning from a single ring-shaped configuration to a double concentric ring-shaped configuration through a geometric quench does not induce a persistent current in Bose−Einstein condensates (BECs). The energy transfer from small to large length scales during the 2D turbulent cascade of vortices can generate persistent flow with a small winding number in toroidal BECs. Nonetheless, the interplay of geometric quench and turbulent cascade can lead to circulation flows that exhibit high stability, uniformity, and are devoid of topological excitations. We showcase the intricate nature of turbulence in our investigation, which is influenced by factors like boundaries and spatial dimensionality. This advancement holds promise for innovative atomtronic designs and provides insights into quantum tunneling and interacting quantum systems under extreme non-equilibrium conditions.
Dissipating of disorder quantum vortices in an annular two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate can form a macroscopic persistent flow of atoms. We propose a protocol to create persistent flow with high winding number based on a double concentric ring-shaped configuration. We find that a sudden geometric quench of the trap from single ring-shape into double concentric ring-shape will enhance the circulation flow in the outer ring-shaped region of the trap when the initial state of the condensate is with randomly distributed vortices of the same charge. The circulation flows that we created are with high stability and good uniformity free from topological excitations. Our study is promising for new atomtronic designing, and is also helpful for quantitatively understanding quantum tunneling and interacting quantum systems driven far from equilibrium.
Experimental stirring of a toroidally trapped Bose-Einstein condensate at high temperature generates a disordered array of quantum vortices that decays via thermal dissipation to form a macroscopic persistent current [T. W. Neely et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 235301 (2013)]. We perform three-dimensional numerical simulations of the experimental sequence within the stochastic projected Gross-Pitaevskii equation using ab initio determined reservoir parameters. We find that both damping and noise are essential for describing the dynamics of the high-temperature Bose field. The theory gives a quantitative account of the formation of a persistent current, with no fitted parameters.