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:1512.04007 · Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics

Zitterbewegung with spin–orbit coupled ultracold atoms in a fluctuating optical lattice

Victor Yu. Argonov, Денис В. Макаров

Published Aug 15, 2016• 4 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract The dynamics of non-interacting ultracold atoms with artificial spin–orbit coupling is considered. Spin–orbit coupling is created using two moving optical lattices with orthogonal polarizations. Our main goal is to study influence of lattice noise on Rabi oscillations. Special attention is paid to the phenomenon of the Zitterbewegung being trembling motion caused by Rabi transitions between states with different velocities. Phase and amplitude fluctuations of lattices are modelled by means of the two-dimensional stochastic Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, also known as harmonic noise. In the the noiseless case the problem is solved analytically in terms of the momentum representation. It is shown that lattice noise significantly extends duration of the Zitterbewegung as compared to the noiseless case. This effect originates from noise-induced decoherence of Rabi oscillations.

DOI
10.1088/0953-4075/49/17/175503

Related papers

Spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate in a tilted optical lattice

Jonas Larson, J.-P. Martikainen, Anssi Collin +1 more

Bloch oscillations appear for a particle in a weakly tilted periodic potential. The intrinsic spin Hall effect is an outcome of a spin-orbit coupling. We demonstrate that both of these phenomena can be realized simultaneously in a gas of weakly interacting ultracold atoms exposed to a tilted optical lattice and to a set of spatially dependent light fields inducing an effective spin-orbit coupling. It is found that both the spin Hall and the Bloch oscillation effects may coexist, showing, however, a strong correlation between the two. These correlations are manifested as a transverse spin current oscillating in-phase with the Bloch oscillations. On top of the oscillations originating from the periodicity of the model, a trembling motion is found which is believed to be atomic Zitterbewegung. It is argued that the damping of these Zitterbewegung oscillations may to a large extent be prevented in the present setup considering a periodic optical lattice potential.

arXiv:1001.2527•Physical Review A•Oct 25, 2010•54 citations

Zitterbewegungeffect in spin-orbit-coupled spin-1 ultracold atoms

Yi‐Cai Zhang, Shu-Wei Song, Chaofei Liu +1 more

The Zitterbewegung effect in spin-orbit-coupled spin-1 cold atoms is investigated in the presence of the Zeeman field and a harmonic trap. It is shown that the Zeeman field and the harmonic trap have significant effect on the Zitterbewegung oscillatory behaviors. The external Zeeman field could suppress or enhance the Zitterbewegung amplitude and change the frequencies of oscillation. A much slowly damping Zitterbewegung oscillation can be achieved by adjusting both the linear and the quadratic Zeeman fields. Multifrequency Zitterbewegung oscillation can be induced by the applied Zeeman field. In the presence of the harmonic trap, the subpackets corresponding to different eigenenergies would always keep coherent, resulting in the persistent Zitterbewegung oscillations. The Zitterbewegung oscillation would display very complicated and irregular oscillation characteristics due to the coexistence of different frequencies of the Zitterbewegung oscillation. Furthermore, numerical results show that the Zitterbewegung effect is robust even in the presence of interaction between atoms.

arXiv:1210.5030•Physical Review A•Feb 15, 2013•28 citations

Quantum phases of two-component bosons with spin-orbit coupling in optical lattices

Daisuke Yamamoto, Ian B. Spielman, C. A. R. Sá de Melo

Ultracold bosons in optical lattices are one of the few systems where bosonic matter is known to exhibit strong correlations. Here we push the frontier of our understanding of interacting bosons in optical lattices by adding synthetic spin-orbit coupling, and show that new kinds of density- and chiral-orders develop. The competition between the optical lattice period and the spin-orbit coupling length - which can be made comparable in experiments - along with the spin hybridization induced by a transverse field (i.e., Rabi coupling) and interparticle interactions create a rich variety of quantum phases including uniform, non-uniform and phase-separated superfluids, as well as Mott insulators. The spontaneous symmetry breaking phenomena at the transitions between them are explained by a two-order-parameter Ginzburg-Landau model with multiparticle umklapp processes. Finally, in order to characterize each phase, we calculated their experimentally measurable crystal momentum distributions. PACS numbers: 67.85.-d,67.85.Hj,67.85.Fg.

arXiv:1708.09186•Physical Review A•Dec 26, 2017•13 citations

Spin-Orbit Coupled Ultracold Gases in Optical Lattices:Single-Particle Physics and Superfluid-Insulator Transition

Lihong Zhou, Xiaoling Cui

We study the interplay effect of spin-orbit coupling(SOC) and optical lattice to the single-particle physics and superfluid-insulator transition in ultracold Fermi gases. We consider the type of SOC that has been realized in cold atoms experiments via two-photon Raman processes. Our analyses are based on the knowledge of full single-particle spectrum in lattices, without relying on any tightbinding approximation. We point out that the tight-binding models used in literature are either very limited or completely inapplicable in predicting the correct single-particle physics. Moreover, we show that the Raman field (creating SOC) can induce band-gap closing in a two-dimensional optical lattice, leading to the intriguing phenomenon of superfluidity-reentrance for interacting fermions at integer filling. We present the superfluid-insulator phase diagram in a wide parameter regime of chemical potentials and Raman fields. All these results are far beyond any tight-binding model can predict, and can be directly probed in current cold atoms experiments

•Jul 6, 2015•0 citations

Observation of Zitterbewegung in a spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate

Chunlei Qu, Chris Hamner, Ming Gong +2 more

Spin-orbit-coupled ultracold atoms provide an intriguing new avenue for the study of rich spin dynamics in superfluids. In this Rapid Communication, we observe Zitterbewegung, the simultaneous velocity (thus position) and spin oscillations, of neutral atoms between two spin-orbit-coupled bands in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) through sudden quantum quenches of the Hamiltonian. The observed Zitterbewegung oscillations are perfect on a short time scale but gradually damp out on a long time scale, followed by sudden and strong heating of the BEC. As an application, we also demonstrate how Zitterbewegung oscillations can be exploited to populate the upper spin-orbit band and observe a subsequent dipole motion. Our experimental results are corroborated by a theoretical and numerical analysis and showcase the great flexibility that ultracold atoms provide for investigating rich spin dynamics in superfluids.

arXiv:1301.0658•Physical Review A•Aug 23, 2013•307 citations

Dragging spin–orbit-coupled solitons by a moving optical lattice

Hidetsugu Sakaguchi, Fumihide Hirano, Boris A. Malomed

Abstract It is known that the interplay of the spin–orbit-coupling (SOC) and mean-field self-attraction creates stable two-dimensional (2D) solitons (ground states) in spinor Bose–Einstein condensates. However, SOC destroys the system’s Galilean invariance, therefore moving solitons exist only in a narrow interval of velocities, outside of which the solitons suffer delocalization. We demonstrate that the application of a relatively weak moving optical lattice (OL), with the 2D or quasi-1D structure, makes it possible to greatly expand the velocity interval for stable motion of the solitons. The stability domain in the system’s parameter space is identified by means of numerical methods. In particular, the quasi-1D OL produces a stronger stabilizing effect than its full 2D counterpart. Some features of the domain are explained analytically.

arXiv:2112.12429•Journal of Physics B Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics•Dec 22, 2021•2 citations
Abstract The dynamics of non-interacting ultracold atoms with artificial spin–orbit coupling is considered. Spin–orbit coupling is created using two moving optical lattices with orthogonal polarizations. Our main goal is to study influence of lattice noise on Rabi oscillations. Special attention is paid to the phenomenon of the Zitterbewegung being trembling motion caused by Rabi transitions between states with different velocities. Phase and amplitude fluctuations of lattices are modelled by means of the two-dimensional stochastic Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process, also known as harmonic noise. In the the noiseless case the problem is solved analytically in terms of the momentum representation. It is shown that lattice noise significantly extends duration of the Zitterbewegung as compared to the noiseless case. This effect originates from noise-induced decoherence of Rabi oscillations.
Bloch oscillations appear for a particle in a weakly tilted periodic potential. The intrinsic spin Hall effect is an outcome of a spin-orbit coupling. We demonstrate that both of these phenomena can be realized simultaneously in a gas of weakly interacting ultracold atoms exposed to a tilted optical lattice and to a set of spatially dependent light fields inducing an effective spin-orbit coupling. It is found that both the spin Hall and the Bloch oscillation effects may coexist, showing, however, a strong correlation between the two. These correlations are manifested as a transverse spin current oscillating in-phase with the Bloch oscillations. On top of the oscillations originating from the periodicity of the model, a trembling motion is found which is believed to be atomic Zitterbewegung. It is argued that the damping of these Zitterbewegung oscillations may to a large extent be prevented in the present setup considering a periodic optical lattice potential.
The Zitterbewegung effect in spin-orbit-coupled spin-1 cold atoms is investigated in the presence of the Zeeman field and a harmonic trap. It is shown that the Zeeman field and the harmonic trap have significant effect on the Zitterbewegung oscillatory behaviors. The external Zeeman field could suppress or enhance the Zitterbewegung amplitude and change the frequencies of oscillation. A much slowly damping Zitterbewegung oscillation can be achieved by adjusting both the linear and the quadratic Zeeman fields. Multifrequency Zitterbewegung oscillation can be induced by the applied Zeeman field. In the presence of the harmonic trap, the subpackets corresponding to different eigenenergies would always keep coherent, resulting in the persistent Zitterbewegung oscillations. The Zitterbewegung oscillation would display very complicated and irregular oscillation characteristics due to the coexistence of different frequencies of the Zitterbewegung oscillation. Furthermore, numerical results show that the Zitterbewegung effect is robust even in the presence of interaction between atoms.
Ultracold bosons in optical lattices are one of the few systems where bosonic matter is known to exhibit strong correlations. Here we push the frontier of our understanding of interacting bosons in optical lattices by adding synthetic spin-orbit coupling, and show that new kinds of density- and chiral-orders develop. The competition between the optical lattice period and the spin-orbit coupling length - which can be made comparable in experiments - along with the spin hybridization induced by a transverse field (i.e., Rabi coupling) and interparticle interactions create a rich variety of quantum phases including uniform, non-uniform and phase-separated superfluids, as well as Mott insulators. The spontaneous symmetry breaking phenomena at the transitions between them are explained by a two-order-parameter Ginzburg-Landau model with multiparticle umklapp processes. Finally, in order to characterize each phase, we calculated their experimentally measurable crystal momentum distributions. PACS numbers: 67.85.-d,67.85.Hj,67.85.Fg.
We study the interplay effect of spin-orbit coupling(SOC) and optical lattice to the single-particle physics and superfluid-insulator transition in ultracold Fermi gases. We consider the type of SOC that has been realized in cold atoms experiments via two-photon Raman processes. Our analyses are based on the knowledge of full single-particle spectrum in lattices, without relying on any tightbinding approximation. We point out that the tight-binding models used in literature are either very limited or completely inapplicable in predicting the correct single-particle physics. Moreover, we show that the Raman field (creating SOC) can induce band-gap closing in a two-dimensional optical lattice, leading to the intriguing phenomenon of superfluidity-reentrance for interacting fermions at integer filling. We present the superfluid-insulator phase diagram in a wide parameter regime of chemical potentials and Raman fields. All these results are far beyond any tight-binding model can predict, and can be directly probed in current cold atoms experiments
Spin-orbit-coupled ultracold atoms provide an intriguing new avenue for the study of rich spin dynamics in superfluids. In this Rapid Communication, we observe Zitterbewegung, the simultaneous velocity (thus position) and spin oscillations, of neutral atoms between two spin-orbit-coupled bands in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) through sudden quantum quenches of the Hamiltonian. The observed Zitterbewegung oscillations are perfect on a short time scale but gradually damp out on a long time scale, followed by sudden and strong heating of the BEC. As an application, we also demonstrate how Zitterbewegung oscillations can be exploited to populate the upper spin-orbit band and observe a subsequent dipole motion. Our experimental results are corroborated by a theoretical and numerical analysis and showcase the great flexibility that ultracold atoms provide for investigating rich spin dynamics in superfluids.
Abstract It is known that the interplay of the spin–orbit-coupling (SOC) and mean-field self-attraction creates stable two-dimensional (2D) solitons (ground states) in spinor Bose–Einstein condensates. However, SOC destroys the system’s Galilean invariance, therefore moving solitons exist only in a narrow interval of velocities, outside of which the solitons suffer delocalization. We demonstrate that the application of a relatively weak moving optical lattice (OL), with the 2D or quasi-1D structure, makes it possible to greatly expand the velocity interval for stable motion of the solitons. The stability domain in the system’s parameter space is identified by means of numerical methods. In particular, the quasi-1D OL produces a stronger stabilizing effect than its full 2D counterpart. Some features of the domain are explained analytically.