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Quantised superflow glitches in an annular Bose-Einstein condensate

Stuart Moulder, Scott Beattie, Robert P. Smith, Naaman Tammuz, Zoran Hadzibabic

Published Dec 1, 2011• 2 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We study the metastability and decay of multiply-charged superflow in a ring-shaped atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. Supercurrent corresponding to a giant vortex with topological charge up to q=10 is phase-imprinted optically and detected both interferometrically and kinematically. We observe q=3 superflow persisting for up to a minute and clearly resolve a cascade of quantised steps in its decay. These stochastic decay events, associated with vortex-induced $2 \pi$ phase slips, correspond to collective jumps of atoms between discrete q values. We demonstrate the ability to detect quantised rotational states with > 99 % fidelity, which allows a detailed quantitative study of time-resolved phase-slip dynamics. We find that the supercurrent decays rapidly if the superflow speed exceeds a critical velocity in good agreement with numerical simulations, and we also observe rare stochastic phase slips for superflow speeds below the critical velocity.

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We study the metastability and decay of multiply charged superflow in a ring-shaped atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. Supercurrent corresponding to a giant vortex with topological charge up to $q=10$ is phase imprinted optically and detected both interferometrically and kinematically. We observe $q=3$ superflow persisting for up to a minute and clearly resolve a cascade of quantized steps in its decay. These stochastic decay events, associated with vortex-induced $2\ensuremath{\pi}$ phase slips, correspond to collective jumps of atoms between discrete $q$ values. We demonstrate the ability to detect quantized rotational states with $>$99$%$ fidelity, which allows a detailed quantitative study of time-resolved phase-slip dynamics. We find that the supercurrent decays rapidly if the superflow speed exceeds a critical velocity in good agreement with numerical simulations, and we also observe rare stochastic phase slips for superflow speeds below the critical velocity.

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Decay mechanisms of superflow of Bose-Einstein condensates in ring traps

Masaya Kunimi, Ippei Danshita

We study the supercurrent decay of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a ring trap combined with a repulsive barrier potential. In recent experiments, Kumar et al. [Phys. Rev. A 95, 021602(R) (2017)] have measured the dependence of the decay rate on the temperature and the barrier strength. However, the origin of the decay observed in the experiment remains unclear. We calculate the rate of supercurrent decay due to thermally activated phase slips (TAPS) by using the Kramers formula based on the Gross-Pitaevskii mean-field theory. The resulting decay rate is astronomically small compared to that measured in the experiment, thus excluding the possibility of TAPS as the decay mechanism. Alternatively, we argue that three-body losses can be relevant to the observed decay and predict that one can observe supercurrent decay via TAPS by decreasing the number of atoms.

arXiv:1712.09493•Physical Review A•Apr 11, 2019•25 citations
We study the metastability and decay of multiply-charged superflow in a ring-shaped atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. Supercurrent corresponding to a giant vortex with topological charge up to q=10 is phase-imprinted optically and detected both interferometrically and kinematically. We observe q=3 superflow persisting for up to a minute and clearly resolve a cascade of quantised steps in its decay. These stochastic decay events, associated with vortex-induced 2π2 \pi2π phase slips, correspond to collective jumps of atoms between discrete q values. We demonstrate the ability to detect quantised rotational states with > 99 % fidelity, which allows a detailed quantitative study of time-resolved phase-slip dynamics. We find that the supercurrent decays rapidly if the superflow speed exceeds a critical velocity in good agreement with numerical simulations, and we also observe rare stochastic phase slips for superflow speeds below the critical velocity.
We study the metastability and decay of multiply charged superflow in a ring-shaped atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. Supercurrent corresponding to a giant vortex with topological charge up to q=10q=10q=10 is phase imprinted optically and detected both interferometrically and kinematically. We observe q=3q=3q=3 superflow persisting for up to a minute and clearly resolve a cascade of quantized steps in its decay. These stochastic decay events, associated with vortex-induced $2\ensuremath{\pi}$ phase slips, correspond to collective jumps of atoms between discrete qqq values. We demonstrate the ability to detect quantized rotational states with $>999999%$ fidelity, which allows a detailed quantitative study of time-resolved phase-slip dynamics. We find that the supercurrent decays rapidly if the superflow speed exceeds a critical velocity in good agreement with numerical simulations, and we also observe rare stochastic phase slips for superflow speeds below the critical velocity.
Persistent currents in annular geometries have played an important role in disclosing the quantum phase coherence of superconductors and mesoscopic electronic systems.Ultracold atomic gases in multiply connected traps also exhibit long-lived supercurrents and have attracted much interest both for fundamental studies of superfluid dynamics and as prototypes for atomtronics circuits.Here, we report on the realization of supercurrents in homogeneous, tunable fermionic rings.We gain exquisite, rapid control over quantized persistent currents in all regimes of the BCS-BEC crossover through a universal phase-imprinting technique, attaining on-demand circulations w as high as 9. High-fidelity readout of the superfluid circulation state is achieved by exploiting an interferometric protocol, which also yields local information about the superfluid phase around the ring.In the absence of externally introduced perturbations, we find the induced metastable supercurrents to be as long-lived as the atomic sample.Conversely, we trigger and inspect the supercurrent decay by inserting a single small obstacle within the ring.For circulations higher than a critical value, the quantized current is observed to dissipate via the emission of vortices, i.e., quantized phase slips, which we directly image, in good agreement with numerical simulations.The critical circulation at which the superflow becomes unstable is found to depend starkly on the interaction strength, taking its maximum value for the unitary Fermi gas.Our results demonstrate fast and accurate control of quantized collective excitations in a macroscopic quantum system and establish strongly interacting fermionic superfluids as excellent candidates for atomtronics applications.
Motivated by a recent experiment [Beattie, Moulder, Fletcher, and Hadzibabic, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 025301 (2013)], we study the superflow of atomic spinor Bose-Einstein condensates optically trapped in a ring-shaped geometry. Within a dissipative mean-field approach we simulate a two-component condensate in conditions adapted to the experiment. In qualitative agreement with the experimental findings, we observe stable superflow if the spin-population imbalance is above some well-defined threshold value. Below the stability threshold the persistent currents with higher-order circulation decay in quantized steps, and the vortex lines escape from the center of the ring through dynamically created ``weak links'' in the condensate annulus. These regions with reduced density of one spin component are filled by atoms of the other component. The vortices then leave the ring-shaped high-density region of the condensate and finally decay into elementary excitations.
We investigate the role of vortices in the decay of persistent current states of annular atomic superfluids by solving numerically the Gross–Pitaevskii equation, and we directly compare our results with the 6Li experiment at LENS data. We theoretically model the optical phase-imprinting technique employed to experimentally excite finite-circulation states in the Bose–Einstein condensation regime, accounting for imperfections of the optical gradient imprinting profile. By comparing simulations of this realistic protocol to an ideal imprinting, we show that the introduced density excitations arising from imperfect imprinting are mainly responsible for limiting the maximum reachable winding number wmax in the superfluid ring. We also investigate the effect of a point-like obstacle with variable potential height V0 on the decay of circulating supercurrents. For a given obstacle height, a critical circulation wc exists, such that for an initial circulation w0 larger than wc the supercurrent decays through the emission of vortices, which cross the superflow and thus induce phase slippage. Higher values of the obstacle height V0 further favor the entrance of vortices, thus leading to lower values of wc. Furthermore, the stronger vortex-defect interaction at higher V0 leads to vortices that propagate closer to the center of the ring condensate. The combination of both these effects leads to an increase in the supercurrent decay rate for increasing w0, in agreement with experimental observations.
Motivated by a recent experiment [K. C. Wright et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 025302 (2013)], we investigate deterministic discontinuous jumps between quantized circulation states in a toroidally trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. These phase slips are induced by vortex excitations created by a rotating weak link. We analyze the influence of a localized condensate density depletion and atomic superflows, governed by the rotating barrier, on the energetic and dynamical stability of the vortices in the ring-shaped condensate. We simulate in a three-dimensional dissipative mean-field model the dynamics of the condensate using parameters similar to the experimental conditions. Moreover, we consider the dynamics of the stirred condensate far beyond the experimentally explored region and reveal surprising manifestations of complex vortex dynamics.
We study the supercurrent decay of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a ring trap combined with a repulsive barrier potential. In recent experiments, Kumar et al. [Phys. Rev. A 95, 021602(R) (2017)] have measured the dependence of the decay rate on the temperature and the barrier strength. However, the origin of the decay observed in the experiment remains unclear. We calculate the rate of supercurrent decay due to thermally activated phase slips (TAPS) by using the Kramers formula based on the Gross-Pitaevskii mean-field theory. The resulting decay rate is astronomically small compared to that measured in the experiment, thus excluding the possibility of TAPS as the decay mechanism. Alternatively, we argue that three-body losses can be relevant to the observed decay and predict that one can observe supercurrent decay via TAPS by decreasing the number of atoms.