Abstract A recent analysis has revealed singular but physically relevant localized two-dimensional vortex states with density ∼ r −4/3 at r → 0 and a convergent total norm, which are maintained by the interplay of the potential of the attraction to the center, ∼− r −2 , and a self-repulsive quartic nonlinearity, produced by the Lee-Huang-Yang correction to the mean-field dynamics of Bose–Einstein condensates. In optics, a similar setting, with the density singularity ∼ r −1 , is realized with the help of quintic self-defocusing. Here we present physically relevant antidark singular-vortex states in these systems, existing on top of a flat background. Numerical solutions for them are very accurately approximated by the Thomas–Fermi wave function. Their stability exactly obeys an analytical criterion derived from the consideration of small perturbations. The singular-vortex states exist as well in the case when the effective potential is weakly repulsive. It is demonstrated that the singular vortices can be excited by the input in the form of the ordinary nonsingular vortices, hence the singular modes can be created in the experiment. We also consider regular (dark) vortices maintained by the flat background, under the action of the repulsive central potential ∼+ r −2 . The dark modes with vorticities l = 0 and 1 are completely stable. In the case when the central potential is attractive, but the effective one, which includes the centrifugal term, is repulsive, and, in addition, a weak trapping potential ∼ r 2 is applied, dark vortices with l = 1 feature an intricate pattern of alternating stability and instability regions. Under the action of the instability, states with l = 1 travel along tangled trajectories, which stay in a finite area defined by the trap. The analysis is also reported for dark vortices with l = 2, which feature a complex structure of alternating intervals of stability and instability against splitting. Lastly, simple but novel flat vortices are found at the border between the anidark and dark ones.
Abstract A recent analysis has revealed singular but physically relevant localized two-dimensional vortex states with density ∼ r −4/3 at r → 0 and a convergent total norm, which are maintained by the interplay of the potential of the attraction to the center, ∼− r −2 , and a self-repulsive quartic nonlinearity, produced by the Lee-Huang-Yang correction to the mean-field dynamics of Bose–Einstein condensates. In optics, a similar setting, with the density singularity ∼ r −1 , is realized with the help of quintic self-defocusing. Here we present physically relevant antidark singular-vortex states in these systems, existing on top of a flat background. Numerical solutions for them are very accurately approximated by the Thomas–Fermi wave function. Their stability exactly obeys an analytical criterion derived from the consideration of small perturbations. The singular-vortex states exist as well in the case when the effective potential is weakly repulsive. It is demonstrated that the singular vortices can be excited by the input in the form of the ordinary nonsingular vortices, hence the singular modes can be created in the experiment. We also consider regular (dark) vortices maintained by the flat background, under the action of the repulsive central potential ∼+ r −2 . The dark modes with vorticities l = 0 and 1 are completely stable. In the case when the central potential is attractive, but the effective one, which includes the centrifugal term, is repulsive, and, in addition, a weak trapping potential ∼ r 2 is applied, dark vortices with l = 1 feature an intricate pattern of alternating stability and instability regions. Under the action of the instability, states with l = 1 travel along tangled trajectories, which stay in a finite area defined by the trap. The analysis is also reported for dark vortices with l = 2, which feature a complex structure of alternating intervals of stability and instability against splitting. Lastly, simple but novel flat vortices are found at the border between the anidark and dark ones.
This article provides a focused review of recent findings which demonstrate, in some cases quite counter-intuitively, the existence of bound states with a singularity of the density pattern at the center; the states are physically meaningful because their total norm converges. One model of this type is based on the 2D Gross–Pitaevskii equation (GPE), which combines the attractive potential ∼ r − 2 and the quartic self-repulsive nonlinearity, induced by the Lee–Huang–Yang effect (quantum fluctuations around the mean-field state). The GPE demonstrates suppression of the 2D quantum collapse, driven by the attractive potential, and emergence of a stable ground state (GS), whose density features an integrable singularity ∼ r − 4 / 3 at r → 0 . Modes with embedded angular momentum exist too, but they are unstable. A counter-intuitive peculiarity of the model is that the GS exists even if the sign of the potential is reversed from attraction to repulsion, provided that its strength is small enough. This peculiarity finds a relevant explanation. The other model outlined in the review includes 1D, 2D, and 3D GPEs, with the septimal (seventh-order), quintic, and cubic self-repulsive terms, respectively. These equations give rise to stable singular solitons, which represent the GS for each dimension D, with the density singularity ∼ r − 2 / ( 4 − D ) . Such states may be considered the results of screening a “bare” delta-functional attractive potential by the respective nonlinearities.
A method for the creation of three-dimensional (3D) solitary topological modes, corresponding to vortical droplets of a two-component dilute superfluid, is presented. We use the recently introduced system of nonlinearly coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations, which include contact attraction between the components, and quartic repulsion stemming from the Lee-Huang-Yang correction to the mean-field energy. Self-trapped vortex tori, carrying the topological charges m1=m2=1 or m1=m2=2 in their components, are constructed by means of numerical and approximate analytical methods. The analysis reveals stability regions for the vortex droplets (in broad and relatively narrow parameter regions for m1,2=1 and m1,2=2, respectively). The results provide a scenario for the creation of stable 3D self-trapped states with the double vorticity (m1,2=2). The stable modes are shaped as flat-top ones, with the space between the inner hole, induced by the vorticity, and the outer boundary filled by a nearly constant density. On the other hand, all modes with hidden vorticity, i.e., topological charges of the two components ${m}_{1}=\ensuremath{-}{m}_{2}=1$, are unstable. The stability of the droplets with m1,2=1 against splitting (which is the main scenario of possible instability) is explained by estimating analytically the energy of the split and unsplit states. The predicted results may be implemented, exploiting dilute quantum droplets in mixtures of Bose-Einstein condensates.
We introduce a wave-propagation model for a pair of linearly coupled two-dimensional (2D) cores with intrinsic cubic nonlinearity—self-focusing (attractive) or self-defocusing (repulsive). Each core carries a periodic potential corresponding to a 1D lattice, the two lattices being mutually perpendicular. Localized states in the model are classified according to their skew-symmetry or skew-antisymmetry, that combine the interchange of the cores and the rotation of coordinates by 90°. Such a setting would be difficult to implement in ordinary optics, but it has a straightforward realization in terms of atom-wave optics, using a Bose–Einstein condensate confined to a pair of tunnel-coupled parallel 'pancake-shaped' traps, which are equipped with crossed 1D optical lattices (an example of a greater versatility of matter-wave optics, as compared to the optics of photons). For the attractive nonlinearity in both cores, symmetry-breaking bifurcations are found, with the help of the variational approximation and, chiefly, by means of numerical methods, in families of skew-symmetric fundamental solitons, dipoles, and vortices. A new species of topologically organized states, which is specific to the dual-core system with crossed 1D lattices, is reported in the form of crosses. They are built as crossed dipole pairs in the two cores, with a phase shift of π/2. Actually, the crosses represent another species of skew-symmetric vortices, different from the ordinary ones. All topologically structured modes in the system exist in pairs: straight and diagonal dipoles, rhombus- and square-shaped vortices (alias on- and off-site ones), and straight and oblique crosses. A noteworthy dynamical feature is the fact that the instability which breaks the skew-symmetry of square- and rhombus-shaped vortices does not lead to their transformation into stable asymmetric counterparts, even though such states are found as stationary solutions. Actually, unstable squares and rhombuses always transform themselves, respectively, into stable crosses of the oblique and straight types. Fundamental solitons and vortices, which do not feature the symmetry-breaking instability, are also found in the first bandgap of the repulsive system, and in the semi-infinite gap of the mixed attractive–repulsive model.
We consider two-dimensional (2D) localized modes in the second-harmonic-generating (χ(2)) system with the harmonic-oscillator (HO) trapping potential. In addition to its realization in optics, the system describes the mean-field dynamics of mixed atomic-molecular Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs). The existence and stability of various modes is determined by their total power, N, topological charge, m/2 [m is the intrinsic vorticity of the second-harmonic (SH) field], and χ(2) mismatch, q. The analysis is carried out in a numerical form and, in parallel, by means of the variational approximation (VA), which produces results that agree well with numerical findings. Below a certain power threshold, N≤Nc(m)(q), all trapped modes are of the single-color type, represented by the SH component only, while the fundamental frequency (FF) one is absent. In contrast with the usual situation, where such modes are always unstable, we demonstrate that they are stable, for m=0, 1, 2 (the mode with m=1 may be formally considered as a semivortex with topological charge m/2=1/2), at N≤Nc(m)(q), and unstable above this threshold. On the other hand, Nc(m)(q)≡0 at q≥qmax (in our notation, qmax=1); hence the single-color modes are unstable in the latter case. At N=Nc(m), the modes with m=0 and m=2 undergo a pitchfork bifurcation, which gives rise to two-color states, which remain completely stable for m=0. The two-color vortices with m=2 (topological charge 1) have an upper stability border, N=Nc2(q). Above the border, they exhibit periodic splittings and recombinations, while keeping their vorticity. The semivortex does not bifurcate; at N=Nc(m=1), it exhibits quasi-chaotic oscillations and a rotating “groove” resembling a screw-edge dislocation induced by the semi-integer vorticity.
Quantum collapse in three and two dimensions (3D and 2D) is induced by attractive potential $\ensuremath{\sim}\ensuremath{-}{r}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$. It was demonstrated that the mean-field (MF) cubic self-repulsion in the 3D bosonic gas suppresses the collapse and creates the missing ground state (GS). However, the cubic nonlinearity is not strong enough to suppress the 2D collapse. We demonstrate that the Lee-Hung-Yang (LHY) quartic term, induced by quantum fluctuations around the MF state, is sufficient for the stabilization of the 2D gas against the collapse. By means of numerical solution of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation including the LHY term, as well as with the help of analytical methods, such as expansions of the wave function at small and large distances from the center and the Thomas-Fermi approximation, we construct stable GS, with a singular density $\ensuremath{\sim}{r}^{\ensuremath{-}4/3}$ but convergent integral norm. Counterintuitively, the stable GS exists even if the external potential is repulsive, with the strength falling below a certain critical value. An explanation to this finding is given. Along with the GS, singular vortex states are produced too, and their stability boundary is found analytically. Unstable vortices spontaneously transform into the stable GS, expelling the vorticity to the periphery.
Bose-Einstein condensation(BEC) has been a research hotspot in cold atom physics for the past few decades. Recently, experiments on BECs have reported the observation of liquid-like quantum droplets, attracting significant interest. The physics for forming quantum droplets can be explained by zero-point quantum fluctuation which effectively prohibit the collapse caused by the mean-field interactions between the atoms. The stabilization mechanism beyond the mean-field theory, induced by quantum fluctuations, can be described by the Lee–Huang–Yang(LHY) correction. Normally, forming stable 2D or 3D solitons in free space is a challenging problem. Additionally, an intriguing question is how to generate 2D or 3D solitons with embedded vorticity. The LHY stability mechanism offers a new approach to producing stable solitons and vortex solitons in BECs. In this thesis, two-dimensional vortex quantum droplets in Bose-Einstein condensates, including those with and without external potential, are examined. The study of solitons and vortex solitons in BECs under mean-field interactions and external potential has yielded significant results. This thesis expands this field by introducing the LHY correction to study stable quantum droplets and vortex droplets in BECs. The work chapters begin with studying binary quantum droplets in free space, considering the case where interspecies interactions are weakly attractive and intraspecies interactions are weakly repulsive. The zero-vorticity, semi-vortex, and binary vortex quantum droplets are studied in Chapter 3. Stable semi-vortex quantum droplets with embedded vorticity up to 8 are found in this system. This result gives a way to form stable vortex droplets with high topological charges in free space by controlling one component with zero vorticity and the other component with embedded vorticity. The stability and properties of these droplets are systematically studied. Chapter 4 explores the vortex quantum droplets and hidden vortex droplets confined within a radial lattice trap. It is found that the existence curves of the droplets confined within this optical trap could violate the Vakhitov-Kolokolov(VK) criterion, which is a necessary condition to form a stable soliton. A remarkable finding is that the vortex and hidden vortex quantum droplets in this radial lattice remain stable when they carry the embedded vorticity up to 11. The double-ring vortex and hidden vortex quantum droplets confined within this radial lattice are also discussed. The work expands from non-magnetic atoms to magnetic atoms in Chapter 5, which needs to consider the dipole-dipole interactions(DDIs). The anisotropic dipolar vortex quantum droplets trapped in an annular potential are studied. Under the effect of the ring shape potential, the double peak ring-shaped vortex droplets remain stable when they carry the embedded vorticity up to 11. It is the first time stable droplets with high topological charges have been formed in a dipolar system. Additionally, the shape transformation of dipolar vortex droplets induced by the strength of the mean-field interaction is examined. Finally, the behavior of dipolar vortex droplets confined within a weak-depth annular potential is also discussed. The results of this thesis may prove highly useful in creating stable vortex quantum droplets in Bose-Einstein condensates and advancing the broader field of ultracold atoms.