Rotating dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates exhibit rich physics due to the interplay of long-range interactions and rotation, leading to unconventional vortex structures and strongly correlated phases. While most studies rely on mean-field approaches, these fail to capture quantum correlations that become significant at high rotation speeds and strong interactions. In this study, we go beyond the mean-field description by employing a numerically exact multiconfigurational approach to study finite-sized dipolar condensates. We reveal novel vortex structures, rotating cluster states, and strong fragmentation effects, demonstrating that beyond-mean-field correlations remain prominent even in larger systems. By quantifying deviations from mean-field theory, we provide a predictive framework for analyzing experiments and exploring emergent quantum phases, with implications for both the fundamental theory of ultracold gases and the quantum simulation of correlated superfluid systems like in neutron stars.
Rotating dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates exhibit rich physics due to the interplay of long-range interactions and rotation, leading to unconventional vortex structures and strongly correlated phases. While most studies rely on mean-field approaches, these fail to capture quantum correlations that become significant at high rotation speeds and strong interactions. In this study, we go beyond the mean-field description by employing a numerically exact multiconfigurational approach to study finite-sized dipolar condensates. We reveal novel vortex structures, rotating cluster states, and strong fragmentation effects, demonstrating that beyond-mean-field correlations remain prominent even in larger systems. By quantifying deviations from mean-field theory, we provide a predictive framework for analyzing experiments and exploring emergent quantum phases, with implications for both the fundamental theory of ultracold gases and the quantum simulation of correlated superfluid systems like in neutron stars.
The production of quantized vortices having diverse structures is a remarkable effect of rotating Bose-Einstein condensates. Vortex formation described by the mean-field theory is valid only in the regime of weak interactions. The exploration of the rich and diverse physics of strongly interacting BEC requires a more general approach. This study explores the vortex formation of strongly interacting and rapidly rotating BEC from a general ab initio many-body perspective. We demonstrate that the quantized vortices form various structures that emerge from an intricate interplay between the angular momentum and many-body interaction. We examine the distinct impact of the angular velocity and interaction energy on the vortex formation. Our analysis shows that, while the angular rotation generally augments the vortex formation, the interactions can enhance as well as impede the vortices production.
We investigate the vortex lattices of harmonically confined quasi-two-dimensional tilted rotational dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates. By employing an extended Gross-Pitaevskii equation for a rotating condensate, we reveal the structural transformation of vortices from square to triangular lattices as the tilt of dipolar bosons relative to the polarization axis approaches a critical angle. When the tilt of the magnetic dipoles surpasses the magic angle, the condensate elongates diagonally and becomes devoid of vortices. Moreover, we include the Lee-Huang-Yang correction, which enables the formation of vortices in the elongated condensate. Additionally, when dipoles are oriented perpendicular to the polarization axis, the Lee-Huang-Yang correction results in the fragmentation of condensates under strong rotation. The quench dynamics of the rotational frequency demonstrate the development of vortex lattices; however, with a strong rotational quench, the condensate remains free of vortices. Our numerical analysis highlights the beyond mean-field effects of the rotational properties of anisotropic dipolar bosons, which can be observed in current dipolar quantum gas experiments.
The theoretical investigation of rotating Bose-Einstein condensates has mainly focused on the emergence of quantum vortex states and the condensed properties of such systems. In the present work, we concentrate on other facets by examining the impact of rotation on the ground state of weakly interacting bosons confined in anharmonic potentials computed both at the mean-field level and particularly at the many-body level of theory. For the many-body computations, we employ the well-established many-body method known as the multiconfigurational time-dependent Hartree method for bosons. We present how various degrees of fragmentation can be generated following the breakup of the ground state densities in anharmonic traps without ramping up a potential barrier for strong rotations. The breakup of the densities is found to be associated with the acquisition of angular momentum in the condensate due to the rotation. In addition to fragmentation, the presence of many-body correlations is examined by computing the variances of the many-particle position and momentum operators. For strong rotations, the many-body variances become smaller than their mean-field counterparts, and one even finds a scenario with opposite anisotropies of the mean-field and many-body variances. Further, it is observed that for higher discrete symmetric systems of order k, namely three-fold and four-fold symmetry, breakup to k sub-clouds and emergence of k-fold fragmentation take place. All in all, we provide a thorough many-body investigation of how and which correlations build up when a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate breaks up under rotation.
In 1995, atomic physics took a quantum leap with the experimental discovery of almost ideal Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute gases of alkali atoms. The gaseous condensates offer a rare chance to study an interacting many-particle system accurately from first-principles theories, and they can be used to simulate many seminal models that have proven elusive in their original context of, e.g., solid-state or high-energy physics. An important topic in the research has been the quantized vortex, which was experimentally realized in 1999 and whose existence is intimately related to the concepts of quantum phase coherence and superfluidity.\nIn this dissertation, unconventional vortex structures are investigated in the dilute condensates at ultralow temperatures. A combination of analytical and numerical methods is used to examine the structure, stability, and dynamical behavior of multiquantum vortices and vortex-antivortex pairs in spin-polarized condensates, unusual vortex lattices in two-species condensates, and spin textures in condensates with dipolar interactions. In studying the properties of the multiquantum vortices, particular emphasis is placed on exploring the practical limits of producing them through adiabatic pumping of vorticity. The majority of the research is conducted by solving the mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii and Bogoliubov equations.\nVarious original, experimentally verifiable results concerning the exotic vortex structures are presented. Novel splitting patterns of vortices with large quantum numbers are introduced, and it is shown that such vortices can be feasibly stabilized by piercing them with a focused laser beam. A recent experiment on vortex-antivortex pairs is simulated, and an excellent quantitative agreement with the experimental data is obtained. Unconventional ground-state vortex lattices, such as ones having a square geometry or consisting of two-quantum vortices, are shown to exist in rotating two-species condensates. Dipolar interactions are found to support helical spin-vortex states, and the energies of spin-wave excitations are observed to increase rapidly with the dipolar coupling strength.\nThis dissertation contributes to the understanding of superfluid phenomena in Bose-Einstein condensates and has significant implications for the prospects of detecting novel vortex structures in current experiments.
In the last decade, considerable advances have been made in the investigation of dipolar quantum gases. Previous theoretical investigations of a rotating binary dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate, where only one component possesses dipole moment, were mainly focused on two special orientations of the dipoles: perpendicular or parallel to the plane of motion. Here we study the ground-state and rotational properties of such a system for an arbitrary orientation of the dipoles. We demonstrate the ground-state vortex structures depend strongly on the relative strength between dipolar and contact interactions and the rotation frequency, as well as on the orientation of the dipoles. In the absence of rotation, the tunable dipolar interaction can be used to induce the squeezing or expansion of the cloud, and to derive the phase transition between phase coexistence and separation. Under finite rotation, the system is found to exhibit exotic ground-state vortex configurations, such as kernel-shell, vortex necklace, and compensating stripe vortex structures. We also check the validity of the Feynman relation, and find no significant deviations from it. The obtained results open up alternate ways for the quantum control of dipolar quantum gases.
Recent advances in molecular cooling have enabled the realization of strongly dipolar Bose--Einstein condensates (BECs) of molecules, and BECs of many different molecular species may become experimentally accessible in the near future. Here, we explore the unique properties of such BECs and the new insights they may offer into dipolar quantum fluids and many-body physics. We explore which parameter regimes can realistically be achieved using currently available experimental techniques, discuss how to implement these techniques, and outline which molecular species are particularly well suited to explore exotic new states of matter. We further determine how state-of-the-art beyond mean-field theories, originally developed for weakly dipolar magnetic gases, can be pushed to their limits and beyond, and what other long-standing questions in the field of dipolar physics may realistically come within reach using molecular systems.