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arXiv:1507.05007 · Physical Review Letters

Bistability in a Driven-Dissipative Superfluid

Ralf Labouvie, Bodhaditya Santra, Simon Heun, Herwig Ott

Published Jun 10, 2016• 212 citations
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Abstract

We experimentally study a driven-dissipative Josephson junction array, realized with a weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate residing in a one-dimensional optical lattice. Engineered losses on one site act as a local dissipative process, while tunneling from the neighboring sites constitutes the driving force. We characterize the emerging steady states of this atomtronic device. With increasing dissipation strength γ the system crosses from a superfluid state, characterized by a coherent Josephson current into the lossy site, to a resistive state, characterized by an incoherent hopping transport. For intermediate values of γ, the system exhibits bistability, where a superfluid and an incoherent branch coexist. We also study the relaxation dynamics towards the steady state, where we find a critical slowing down, indicating the presence of a nonequilibrium phase transition.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.116.235302

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We explore theoretically the dynamical properties of a first-order dissipative phase transition in coherently driven Bose-Hubbard systems, describing, e.g., lattices of coupled nonlinear optical cavities. Via stochastic trajectory calculations based on the truncated Wigner approximation, we investigate the dynamical behavior as a function of system size for one-dimensional (1D) and 2D square lattices in the regime where mean-field theory predicts nonlinear bistability. We show that a critical slowing down emerges for increasing number of sites in 2D square lattices, while it is absent in 1D arrays. We characterize the peculiar properties of the collective phases in the critical region.
We analyze the dynamics of Bose–Einstein condensates in a one-dimensional driven optical lattice in the presence of distance-selective dissipation. The interplay of on-site interactions, tunneling, external driving and dissipation dominates the feature of the dynamics. Relative atomic density on each site in the lattice and the standard deviation of the relative density are calculated. The effect of the distance-selective dissipation and an external driving on the diffusion of the atoms is analyzed. As a simple example, a BEC in a double-well potential, is analyzed in detail, and the steady state is analytically derived.
We investigate Josephson transport in a fully closed, two-dimensional superfluid circuit formed by a ring-shaped Rb 87 Bose-Einstein condensate that contains two optical barriers acting as movable weak links. Translating these barriers at controlled speeds imposes a steady bias current, enabling direct mapping of the current-chemical-potential ( I − Δ μ ) characteristics. For narrow junctions ( w ≈ 1 µ m ), the circuit exhibits a pronounced dc branch that terminates at a critical current I c = 9 ( 1 ) × 10 3 s − 1 ; above this threshold, the system switches to an ac, resistive regime. Classical-field simulations that include the moving barriers quantitatively reproduce both the nonlinear I − Δ μ curve and the measured I c , validating the underlying microscopic picture. Analysis of the ensuing phase dynamics shows that dissipation is mediated by the nucleation and traversal of vortex-antivortex pairs through the junctions, while the bulk condensate remains globally phase locked—direct evidence of the ring's topological constraint enforcing quantized circulation. These results establish a cold-atom analog of a superconducting quantum interference device in which Josephson dynamics can be resolved at the single-vortex level, providing a versatile platform for atomtronic circuit elements, nonreciprocal Josephson devices, and on-chip Sagnac interferometers for multiaxis rotation sensing.