We present a series of experiments performed with two ultracold one-dimensional Bose gases (rubidium atoms) in a double well potential. Employing matter-wave interference, we can measure the spatially resolved phase difference between the two gases and consequently investigate spatial correlations. By investigating whether higher order correlation functions can be factorized into correlations of lower order, we can investigate the interaction properties of the system. For a non-interacting system, all correlation functions with orders greater than two factorize and one observes Gaussian fluctuations. Here, we present the measurement of non-factorizing fourth-order correlation functions, leading to an experimental characterization of the interactions between the collective excitations of the quantum many-body system. The degree of non-factorizibility, i.e., the degree of non-Gaussianity of the phase fluctuations, depends on the tuneable tunneling strength between the wells. Starting from such a non-Gaussian state, we are able to observe the dynamical evolution towards a state with factorizing correlation functions (Gaussian fluctuations). We start in a double well with tunneling and then abruptly decouple the two subsystems. Subsequently, we observe how the initially non-Gaussian phase fluctuations become Gaussian. Moreover, we discuss the dynamical emergence of phase coherence in a double well potential with tunneling. We experimentally investigate the evolution starting from two different initial states. In one case, we split a cloud of atoms into two and trigger global oscillations in their relative phase. The oscillations subsequently damp and phase coherence sets in. In the other case, two independent clouds are suddenly coupled by tunneling. Again, phase coherence emerges between the two subsystems.
We present a series of experiments performed with two ultracold one-dimensional Bose gases (rubidium atoms) in a double well potential. Employing matter-wave interference, we can measure the spatially resolved phase difference between the two gases and consequently investigate spatial correlations. By investigating whether higher order correlation functions can be factorized into correlations of lower order, we can investigate the interaction properties of the system. For a non-interacting system, all correlation functions with orders greater than two factorize and one observes Gaussian fluctuations. Here, we present the measurement of non-factorizing fourth-order correlation functions, leading to an experimental characterization of the interactions between the collective excitations of the quantum many-body system. The degree of non-factorizibility, i.e., the degree of non-Gaussianity of the phase fluctuations, depends on the tuneable tunneling strength between the wells. Starting from such a non-Gaussian state, we are able to observe the dynamical evolution towards a state with factorizing correlation functions (Gaussian fluctuations). We start in a double well with tunneling and then abruptly decouple the two subsystems. Subsequently, we observe how the initially non-Gaussian phase fluctuations become Gaussian. Moreover, we discuss the dynamical emergence of phase coherence in a double well potential with tunneling. We experimentally investigate the evolution starting from two different initial states. In one case, we split a cloud of atoms into two and trigger global oscillations in their relative phase. The oscillations subsequently damp and phase coherence sets in. In the other case, two independent clouds are suddenly coupled by tunneling. Again, phase coherence emerges between the two subsystems.
Bose–Einstein condensates of particles behave in many ways like coherent radiation fields, and the realization of Bose–Einstein condensation in dilute gases has opened up the experimental study of interactions between coherent matter waves. In addition, the existence of these dilute trapped quantum gases has prompted a re-examination of a number of theoretical issues. In Sec. 13.1 we discuss Josephson tunnelling of a condensate between two wells and the role of fluctuations in particle number and phase. The number and phase variables play a key role in the description of the classic interference experiment, in which two clouds of atoms are allowed to expand and overlap (Sec. 13.2). Rather surprisingly, an interference pattern is produced even though initially the two clouds are completely isolated. Density fluctuations in a Bose gas are studied in Sec. 13.3, where we relate atomic clock shifts to the two-particle correlation function. The ability to manipulate gaseous Bose–Einstein condensates by lasers has made possible the study of coherent matter wave optics and in Sec. 13.4 we describe applications of these techniques to observe solitons, Bragg scattering, and non-linear mixing of matter waves. How to characterize Bose–Einstein condensation in terms of the density matrix is the subject of Sec. 13.5, where we also consider fragmented condensates.
Quantum degenerate atomic gases offer a unique platform for the exploration of a wide variety of interacting many-body systems in a pristine environment, based on a set of powerful tools for the coherent control of the atoms' internal and external degrees of freedom. Here, we present experimental studies of strongly interacting bosonic mixtures in one-dimensional (1D) systems, in which the mobilities of the two species are independently controlled with a state-selective optical lattice. In a first experiment, we freeze out the tunneling of one species from a binary mixture, and study the formation of ``quantum emulsion'' states, where immobile atoms serve as a static, random disorder for a more mobile species. We investigate the 1D superfluid-to-insulator transition in the presence of this disorder, and make comparisons to the effects of quasi-disorder from an incommensurate optical lattice. We observe enhanced localization in the more random potential, highlighting the important role of correlations in disordered systems. Through a combined measurement of transport, localization, and excitation spectra, we are able to obtain strong evidence for observation of a disordered, insulating quantum phase, the 1D Bose glass. In a second experiment, we introduce a new experimental technique for the characterization of ultracold gases held in optical lattices. In analogy to neutron diffraction from solids, we use atomic de Broglie waves to non-destructively probe the spatial structure of 1D Mott insulators through elastic Bragg diffraction, and to probe inelastic band-structure excitations of more weakly interacting 1D Bose gases. Furthermore, we use the diffraction of matter waves to detect the formation of forced-antiferromagnetic ordering in a crystalline atomic spin mixture. Lastly, we study the dynamical response of matter waves to a periodically pulsed, incommensurate optical lattice, a situation that realizes a system of two coupled kicked quantum rotors. We observe that the coupling induces a suppression of energy growth at quantum resonances, and a localization-to-delocalization transition in momentum space for off-resonant driving. Our observations confirm a long-standing theoretical prediction for the two-rotor system, and illustrate how classical behavior can emerge from the evolution of a simple quantum system. | 193 pages
Thermal fluctuations, the microscopic fluctuations of things due to their temperature, counteract order in many-body systems. Thermal fluctuations often lead to high-temperature disordered phases and low-temperature ordered ones. In lower dimensions, thermal fluctuations are relatively stronger with two-dimensional materials being just on the brink of thermal fluctuations destroying their order. Twodimensional materials therefore display unique behaviour, for example undergoing a superfluid phase transition driven by point-like topological defects. In this work, we realise two-dimensional bosonic quantum gases of the isotope Rb-87 in precisely controlled potentials to study how quantum-tunnelling and spatially disordered potentials affect the phases of matter they form. We also present a new scheme for cooling quantum gases directly in the finely tuned radiofrequency-dressed traps confining the gases in our experiments. To study tunnel-coupled gases, this work utilises a novel method to read out information from bilayer quantum gas experiments by analysing noise patterns arising from interference effects. We find that quantum-tunnelling between the two layers in a bilayer system can cause both layers to remain superfluid at higher temperatures than without quantum tunnelling. We compare our results to predictions using renormalisation-group theory and numerical simulations. We experimentally observe the predicted double-layer superfluid phase, a novel phase where the U(1) symmetry of the relative phase is broken and relative excitations are suppressed. Separately, we investigate the topological Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless phase transition in disordered two-dimensional Bose gases. We find that such systems can be driven across this phase transition by increasing the strength of an applied disordered potential. We experimentally map out the phase diagram for a continuous 2D Bose gas in the presence of disorder, which has not previously been carried out to the best of our knowledge. We find that the presence of disorder increases the number of topological defects at a given temperature while reducing the rate at which the number of defects increases with temperature. The experimental results for 2D disordered Bose gases are in qualitative agreement with numerical simulations for the parameter regime studied.
Non-equilibrium (NEQ) many-body dynamics are ubiquitous, ranging from glassy systems to the emergence of structure in the early universe. Ultracold atomic gases provide an ideal, highly controllable platform for studying these phenomena, and this thesis presents a comprehensive investigation into the NEQ dynamics of coupled bilayer two-dimensional (2D) Bose gases. In this thesis, we numerically investigate Josephson effects in bilayer 2D superfluids using classical-field simulations. We show that the system exhibits damped Josephson oscillations and macroscopic quantum self-trapping, and we discuss the associated excitations that emerge in the system. We then experimentally study the phase-ordering dynamics following a coupling quench that drives the system from a disordered to an ordered phase, realized using a well-controlled multiple-radio-frequency (MRF) dressed double-well potential. The resulting NEQ dynamics are probed using matter-wave interferometry, which provides direct access to correlation functions and vortex excitations of the relative-phase mode. Our results demonstrate that the system undergoes universal dynamics in the form of diffusion-type coarsening, in excellent agreement with classical-field numerical simulations. This work broadens the understanding of NEQ and universal dynamics, and the methods presented here serve as a novel and highly tunable approach for exploring a wide range of NEQ dynamics.
This thesis presents four theoretical studies on pairs of tunnel-coupled one-dimensional Bose gases. It first recapitulates how at low energies, the gases’ symmetric and antisymmetric combinations of density and phase are governed by two Tomonaga-Luttinger Liquids (TLL). Tunneling between the gases is believed to yield a quantum sine-Gordon model for the antisymmetric sector. The theoretical background and various applications of this model are summarized, before presenting the first new theoretical results. These show in detail how matter-wave interference measurements can access eigenvalues of the relative phase operator from the TLL, allowing to study the operator’s distribution functions and multi-point correlators. The derivation clarifies why this construction is limited to short expansion times and weak interactions and what modifications occur away from this limit. This leads to a new formula predicting longitudinal “density ripples”. The second half of the thesis was stimulated by recent and unexplained experimental results in the tunnel-coupled case, where density-phase oscillations were seen to rapidly damp out. The work first studies whether this can be explained within a translationally invariant sine-Gordon model. Treating this model in a self-consistent harmonic approximation leads to a negative conclusion. Second, the next leading perturbation due to the tunnel-coupling is investigated in a box geometry. Although this yields a non-negligible coupling between the (anti)symmetric sectors, the effects are not strong enough to explain the damping. Finally, a new low-energy theory is developed, which does not rely on the TLL and which allows to study the roles of both higher excited levels of the transverse potential and of a realistic longitudinal potential. Strong damping is observed as a result of the longitudinal potential, with a dependence on the particle number that is compatible with experimental results. This indicates that performing the experiments in a hard-wall box potential might eliminate the damping effects.
We study quantum dynamical properties of a spin-1 atomic Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well potential. Adopting a mean field theory and single spatial mode approximation, we characterize our model system as two coupled spins. For certain initial states, we find full magnetization oscillations between wells not accompanied by mass (or atom numbers) exchange. We identify dynamic regimes of collective spin variables arising from nonlinear self-interactions that are different from the usual Josephson oscillations. We also discuss magnetization beats and incomplete oscillations of collective spin variables other than the magnetization. Our study points to an alternative approach to observe coherent tunnelling of a condensate through a (spatial) potential barrier.