One of brilliant achievements in spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates is the discovery and observation of the supersolid stripe states. So far, all studied supersolid stripe states do not carry supercurrent. In this paper, we reveal the existence of supercurrent-carrying supersolids in spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates. The supersolid family has a parabolic-like dispersion and carries supercurrent, which is proportional to the quasimomentum. Energetic and dynamical instabilities can break supercurrent-carrying ability of this supersolid family. An insightful interpretation of the dynamical instability of supercurrent-carrying supersolids from the pure plane-wave phase is provided. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
One of brilliant achievements in spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates is the discovery and observation of the supersolid stripe states. So far, all studied supersolid stripe states do not carry supercurrent. In this paper, we reveal the existence of supercurrent-carrying supersolids in spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates. The supersolid family has a parabolic-like dispersion and carries supercurrent, which is proportional to the quasimomentum. Energetic and dynamical instabilities can break supercurrent-carrying ability of this supersolid family. An insightful interpretation of the dynamical instability of supercurrent-carrying supersolids from the pure plane-wave phase is provided. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Supersolid is a special state of matter with both superfluid properties and spontaneous modulation of particle density. In this paper we focus on the supersolid stripe phase realized in a spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate and explore the properties of a class of metastable supersolids. In particular, we study a one-dimensional supersolid whose characteristic wave number k (magnitude of wave vector) deviates from km, i.e., the one in the ground state. In other words, the period of density modulation is shorter or longer than the one in the ground state. We find that this class of supersolids can still be stable if their wave numbers fall in the range kc1<k<kc2, with two thresholds kc1 and kc2. Stripes with k outside this range suffer from dynamical instability with a complex Bogoliubov excitation spectrum at long wavelength. Experimentally, these stripes with k different from km are accessible by exciting the longitudinal spin dipole mode, resulting in temporal oscillation of the stripe period as well as k. Within the mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii theory, we numerically confirm that for a large enough amplitude of spin dipole oscillation, the stripe states become unstable through breaking periodicity, in qualitative agreement with the existence of thresholds of k for stable stripes. Our work extends the concept of supersolid and uncovers an unconventional class of metastable supersolids to explore.
We consider a traveling supersolid stripe pattern in a spin-orbit-coupled Bose gas. This configuration is associated with an unequal population of the two single-particle energy minima, giving rise to a chemical potential difference that sets the fringe velocity. Unlike stationary stripes, the moving pattern is spin-polarized, with decreasing contrast as the population imbalance increases, eventually leading to stripe melting and transition to the uniform plane-wave phase. The Bogoliubov spectrum of the moving stripes exhibits asymmetry under inversion of the excitation quasimomentum. At high population imbalance, we identify energetic and dynamical instabilities in the spin-phonon mode which transforms to the roton mode of the plane-wave phase as the stripe structure vanishes.
Spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates are a flexible experimental platform to engineer synthetic quantum many-body systems. In particular, they host the so-called stripe phase, an instance of a supersolid state of matter. The peculiar excitation spectrum of the stripe phase, a definite footprint of its supersolidity, has been difficult to measure experimentally. In this work, we performed in situ imaging of the stripes and directly observed both superfluid and crystal excitations. We investigated superfluid hydrodynamics and revealed a stripe compression mode, thus demonstrating that the system possesses a compressible crystalline structure. Through the frequency softening of this mode, we located the supersolid transition point. Our results establish spin-orbit-coupled supersolids as ideal systems to investigate supersolidity and its rich dynamics.
Despite ground-breaking observations of supersolidity in spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates, until now the dynamics of the emerging spatially periodic density modulations has been vastly unexplored. Here, we demonstrate the nonrigidity of the density stripes in such a supersolid condensate and explore their dynamic behavior subject to spin perturbations. We show both analytically in infinite systems and numerically in the presence of a harmonic trap how spin waves affect the supersolid's density profile in the form of crystal waves, inducing oscillations of the periodicity as well as the orientation of the fringes. Both these features are well within reach of present-day experiments. Our results show that this system is a paradigmatic supersolid, featuring superfluidity in conjunction with a fully dynamic crystalline structure.
The recent realization of synthetic spin-orbit coupling represents an outstanding achievement in the physics of ultracold quantum gases. In this review we explore the properties of a spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate with equal Rashba and Dresselhaus strengths. This system presents a rich phase diagram, which exhibits a tricritical point separating a zero-momentum phase, a spin-polarized plane-wave phase, and a stripe phase. In the stripe phase translational invariance is spontaneously broken, in analogy with supersolids. Spin-orbit coupling also strongly affects the dynamics of the system. In particular, the excitation spectrum exhibits intriguing features, including the suppression of the sound velocity, the emergence of a roton minimum in the plane-wave phase, and the appearance of a double gapless band structure in the stripe phase. Finally, we discuss a combined procedure to make the stripes visible and stable, thus allowing for a direct experimental detection.
The recent realization of synthetic spin-orbit coupling represents an outstanding achievement in the physics of ultracold quantum gases. In this thesis we explore the properties of spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates with equal Rashba and Dresselhaus strengths. These systems present a rich phase diagram, which exhibits a tricritical point separating a single-minimum phase, a spin-polarized plane-wave phase, and a stripe phase. In the stripe phase translational invariance is spontaneously broken, in analogy with supersolids. Spin-orbit coupling also strongly affects the dynamics of the system. In particular, the excitation spectrum exhibits intriguing features, including the suppression of the sound velocity, the emergence of a roton minimum in the plane-wave phase, and the appearance of a double gapless band structure in the stripe phase. Finally, we discuss a combined procedure to make the stripes visible and stable, thus allowing for a direct experimental detection.