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

Revealing Unconventional Properties of a Spin-Orbit Coupled Bose-Einstein Condensate from Collective Dipole Oscillation

Shuai Chen, Jinyi Zhang, Si-Cong Ji, Zhu Chen, Zhidong Du, Youjin Deng, Hui Zhai, Jian-Wei Pan

Published Jan 29, 2012• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Interaction between matter field and gauge field plays a fundamental role in many areas of physics. Recently, a non-abelian gauge field has been successfully synthesized in laboratory for ultracold neutral bosonic atoms, yielding the coupling between the pseudo-spin of an atom and its orbital motion. This new superfluid has many unconventional properties remaining to be explored. Here we study the collective oscillation of a spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate in a harmonic trap. We find that the frequency of dipole oscillation deviates from the harmonic trap frequency and depends on the oscillation amplitude. Such an unharmonic behavior reveals the nonabelain character of the gauge field. We also observe that a magnetization oscillation is induced by the dipole motion, as a manifestation of the absence of the Galilean invariance of this system. We develop a variational wave-function method that well describes the dipole oscillation, except in the regime with two degenerate single-particle energy minima separated by a low barrier. In this regime, since the harmonic trapping potential plays an analogous role as kinetic energy in a real-space double-well potential, macroscopic quantum tunneling in momentum space is observed in the dipole oscillation.

Related papers

Collective Dipole Oscillations of a Spin-Orbit Coupled Bose-Einstein Condensate

Jinyi Zhang, Si-Cong Ji, Zhu Chen +9 more

In this Letter, we present an experimental study of the collective dipole oscillation of a spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate in a harmonic trap. The dynamics of the center-of-mass dipole oscillation is studied in a broad parameter region as a function of spin-orbit coupling parameters as well as the oscillation amplitude. The anharmonic properties beyond the effective-mass approximation are revealed, such as the amplitude-dependent frequency and finite oscillation frequency at a place with a divergent effective mass. These anharmonic behaviors agree quantitatively with variational wave-function calculations. Moreover, we experimentally demonstrate a unique feature of the spin-orbit coupled system predicted by a sum-rule approach, stating that spin polarization susceptibility--a static physical quantity--can be measured via the dynamics of dipole oscillation. The divergence of polarization susceptibility is observed at the quantum phase transition that separates the magnetic nonzero-momentum condensate from the nonmagnetic zero-momentum phase. The good agreement between the experimental and theoretical results provides a benchmark for recently developed theoretical approaches.

arXiv:1201.6018•Physical Review Letters•Sep 12, 2012•547 citations

Collective dynamics of a spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate

Fang-Qi Hu, Jianjun Wang, Zi-Fa Yu +2 more

We study the collective dynamics of the spin-orbit coupled two pseudospin components of a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a quasi-one-dimensional harmonic potential, by using variational and directly numerical approach of binary mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii equations. The results show that, because of strong coupling of spin-orbit coupling (SOC), Rabi coupling, and atomic interaction, the collective dynamics of the system behave as complex characters. When the Rabi coupling is absent, the density profiles of the system preserve the Gauss type and the wave packets do harmonic oscillations. The amplitude of the collective oscillations increases with SOC. Furthermore, when the SOC strength increases, the dipole oscillations of the two pseudospin components undergo a transition from in-phase to out-of-phase oscillations. When the Rabi coupling present, there will exist a critical value of SOC strength (which depends on the Rabi coupling and atomic interaction). If the SOC strength is less than this critical value, the density profiles of the system can preserve the Gauss type and the wave packets do anharmonic (the frequency of dipole oscillations depends on SOC) oscillations synchronously (i.e., in-phase oscillations). However, if the SOC strength is larger than this critical value, the wave packets are dynamically fragmented and the stable dipole oscillations of the system can not exist. The collective dynamics of the system can be controlled by adjusting the atomic interaction, SOC, and Rabi-coupling strength.

Physical review. E•Feb 18, 2016•17 citations

Rashba Spin-Orbit Coupled Quantum Gases

B. Ramachandhran

Spin-orbit (SO) coupling leads to many fundamental phenomena in a wide range of quantum systems from nuclear physics, condensed matter physics to atomic physics. For instance, in electronic condensed matter systems, SO coupling can lead to quantum spin Hall states or topological insulators, which have potential applications in quantum devices. Recently, SO coupling has been artificially induced in quantum liquids - ultracold dilute atomic Bose and Fermi gases - by the so-called synthetic gauge fields. Combined with unprecedented controllability of interactions and geometry in ultracold atoms, this manipulation of SO coupling opens an entirely new paradigm for studying strong correlations of quantum many-body systems under Abelian and non-Abelian gauge fields. In the major portion of this thesis, we theoretically investigate the ground state and collective excitations of a two-component Bose gas in a two-dimensional harmonic trap, subject to Rashba SO coupling. Our work represents an important extension into the regime of non-Abelian gauge field in which the spin degrees of freedom play an essential role. -- Abstract and Thesis are based on our publications in: (1) 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.010402 (2) 10.1103/PhysRevA.85.023606 (3) 10.1103/PhysRevA.87.033627 (4) 10.1103/PhysRevA.83.033607 (5) 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.123201

•Apr 4, 2014•0 citations

Elementary excitations of chiral Bose-Einstein condensates

Matthew Edmonds, Manuel Valiente, Patrik Öhberg

We study the collective modes of a Bose-Einstein condensate subject to an optically induced density-dependent gauge potential. The corresponding interacting gauge theory lacks Galilean invariance, yielding an exotic superfluid state. The nonlinear dynamics in the presence of a current nonlinearity and an external harmonic trap are found to give rise to dynamics which violate Kohn's theorem; where the frequency of the dipole mode strongly depends on the strength of the mass current in the gas. The linearised spectrum reveals how the centre of mass and shape oscillations are coupled, whereas in the strongly nonlinear regime the dynamics is irregular.

arXiv:1408.6886•Aug 28, 2014•0 citations

Elementary excitations of chiral Bose-Einstein condensates

Matthew Edmonds, Manuel Valiente, Patrik Öhberg

We study the collective modes of a Bose-Einstein condensate subject to an optically induced density-dependent gauge potential. The corresponding interacting gauge theory lacks Galilean invariance, yielding an exotic superfluid state. The nonlinear dynamics in the presence of a current nonlinearity and an external harmonic trap are found to give rise to dynamics which violate Kohn's theorem; where the frequency of the dipole mode strongly depends on the strength of the mass current in the gas. The linearised spectrum reveals how the centre of mass and shape oscillations are coupled, whereas in the strongly nonlinear regime the dynamics are irregular.

Europhysics Letters (EPL)•May 1, 2015•35 citations

Nonlinear modes coupling of trapped spin–orbit coupled spin-1 Bose–Einstein condensates

Jie Wang, Jun-Cheng Liang, Zi-Fa Yu +3 more

We study analytically and numerically the nonlinear collective dynamics of quasi-one-dimensional spin–orbit coupled spin-1 Bose–Einstein condensates trapped in harmonic potential. The ground state of the system is determined by minimizing the Lagrange density, and the coupled equations of motions for the center-of-mass coordinate of the condensate and its width are derived. Then, two low energy excitation modes in breathing dynamics and dipole dynamics are obtained analytically, and the mechanism of exciting the anharmonic collective dynamics is revealed explicitly. The coupling among spin–orbit coupling, Raman coupling and spin-dependent interaction results in multiple external collective modes, which leads to the anharmonic collective dynamics. The cooperative effect of spin momentum locking and spin-dependent interaction results in coupling of dipolar and breathing dynamics, which strongly depends on spin-dependent interaction and behaves distinct characters in different phases. Interestingly, in the absence of spin-dependent interaction, the breathing dynamics is decoupled from spin dynamics and the breathing dynamics is harmonic. Our results provide theoretical evidence for deep understanding of the ground sate phase transition and the nonlinear collective dynamics of the system.

Chinese Physics B•Apr 17, 2023•3 citations
Interaction between matter field and gauge field plays a fundamental role in many areas of physics. Recently, a non-abelian gauge field has been successfully synthesized in laboratory for ultracold neutral bosonic atoms, yielding the coupling between the pseudo-spin of an atom and its orbital motion. This new superfluid has many unconventional properties remaining to be explored. Here we study the collective oscillation of a spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate in a harmonic trap. We find that the frequency of dipole oscillation deviates from the harmonic trap frequency and depends on the oscillation amplitude. Such an unharmonic behavior reveals the nonabelain character of the gauge field. We also observe that a magnetization oscillation is induced by the dipole motion, as a manifestation of the absence of the Galilean invariance of this system. We develop a variational wave-function method that well describes the dipole oscillation, except in the regime with two degenerate single-particle energy minima separated by a low barrier. In this regime, since the harmonic trapping potential plays an analogous role as kinetic energy in a real-space double-well potential, macroscopic quantum tunneling in momentum space is observed in the dipole oscillation.
In this Letter, we present an experimental study of the collective dipole oscillation of a spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate in a harmonic trap. The dynamics of the center-of-mass dipole oscillation is studied in a broad parameter region as a function of spin-orbit coupling parameters as well as the oscillation amplitude. The anharmonic properties beyond the effective-mass approximation are revealed, such as the amplitude-dependent frequency and finite oscillation frequency at a place with a divergent effective mass. These anharmonic behaviors agree quantitatively with variational wave-function calculations. Moreover, we experimentally demonstrate a unique feature of the spin-orbit coupled system predicted by a sum-rule approach, stating that spin polarization susceptibility--a static physical quantity--can be measured via the dynamics of dipole oscillation. The divergence of polarization susceptibility is observed at the quantum phase transition that separates the magnetic nonzero-momentum condensate from the nonmagnetic zero-momentum phase. The good agreement between the experimental and theoretical results provides a benchmark for recently developed theoretical approaches.
We study the collective dynamics of the spin-orbit coupled two pseudospin components of a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a quasi-one-dimensional harmonic potential, by using variational and directly numerical approach of binary mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii equations. The results show that, because of strong coupling of spin-orbit coupling (SOC), Rabi coupling, and atomic interaction, the collective dynamics of the system behave as complex characters. When the Rabi coupling is absent, the density profiles of the system preserve the Gauss type and the wave packets do harmonic oscillations. The amplitude of the collective oscillations increases with SOC. Furthermore, when the SOC strength increases, the dipole oscillations of the two pseudospin components undergo a transition from in-phase to out-of-phase oscillations. When the Rabi coupling present, there will exist a critical value of SOC strength (which depends on the Rabi coupling and atomic interaction). If the SOC strength is less than this critical value, the density profiles of the system can preserve the Gauss type and the wave packets do anharmonic (the frequency of dipole oscillations depends on SOC) oscillations synchronously (i.e., in-phase oscillations). However, if the SOC strength is larger than this critical value, the wave packets are dynamically fragmented and the stable dipole oscillations of the system can not exist. The collective dynamics of the system can be controlled by adjusting the atomic interaction, SOC, and Rabi-coupling strength.
Spin-orbit (SO) coupling leads to many fundamental phenomena in a wide range of quantum systems from nuclear physics, condensed matter physics to atomic physics. For instance, in electronic condensed matter systems, SO coupling can lead to quantum spin Hall states or topological insulators, which have potential applications in quantum devices. Recently, SO coupling has been artificially induced in quantum liquids - ultracold dilute atomic Bose and Fermi gases - by the so-called synthetic gauge fields. Combined with unprecedented controllability of interactions and geometry in ultracold atoms, this manipulation of SO coupling opens an entirely new paradigm for studying strong correlations of quantum many-body systems under Abelian and non-Abelian gauge fields. In the major portion of this thesis, we theoretically investigate the ground state and collective excitations of a two-component Bose gas in a two-dimensional harmonic trap, subject to Rashba SO coupling. Our work represents an important extension into the regime of non-Abelian gauge field in which the spin degrees of freedom play an essential role. -- Abstract and Thesis are based on our publications in: (1) 10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.010402 (2) 10.1103/PhysRevA.85.023606 (3) 10.1103/PhysRevA.87.033627 (4) 10.1103/PhysRevA.83.033607 (5) 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.123201
We study the collective modes of a Bose-Einstein condensate subject to an optically induced density-dependent gauge potential. The corresponding interacting gauge theory lacks Galilean invariance, yielding an exotic superfluid state. The nonlinear dynamics in the presence of a current nonlinearity and an external harmonic trap are found to give rise to dynamics which violate Kohn's theorem; where the frequency of the dipole mode strongly depends on the strength of the mass current in the gas. The linearised spectrum reveals how the centre of mass and shape oscillations are coupled, whereas in the strongly nonlinear regime the dynamics is irregular.
We study the collective modes of a Bose-Einstein condensate subject to an optically induced density-dependent gauge potential. The corresponding interacting gauge theory lacks Galilean invariance, yielding an exotic superfluid state. The nonlinear dynamics in the presence of a current nonlinearity and an external harmonic trap are found to give rise to dynamics which violate Kohn's theorem; where the frequency of the dipole mode strongly depends on the strength of the mass current in the gas. The linearised spectrum reveals how the centre of mass and shape oscillations are coupled, whereas in the strongly nonlinear regime the dynamics are irregular.
We study analytically and numerically the nonlinear collective dynamics of quasi-one-dimensional spin–orbit coupled spin-1 Bose–Einstein condensates trapped in harmonic potential. The ground state of the system is determined by minimizing the Lagrange density, and the coupled equations of motions for the center-of-mass coordinate of the condensate and its width are derived. Then, two low energy excitation modes in breathing dynamics and dipole dynamics are obtained analytically, and the mechanism of exciting the anharmonic collective dynamics is revealed explicitly. The coupling among spin–orbit coupling, Raman coupling and spin-dependent interaction results in multiple external collective modes, which leads to the anharmonic collective dynamics. The cooperative effect of spin momentum locking and spin-dependent interaction results in coupling of dipolar and breathing dynamics, which strongly depends on spin-dependent interaction and behaves distinct characters in different phases. Interestingly, in the absence of spin-dependent interaction, the breathing dynamics is decoupled from spin dynamics and the breathing dynamics is harmonic. Our results provide theoretical evidence for deep understanding of the ground sate phase transition and the nonlinear collective dynamics of the system.