Experiments on spin polarized quantum fluids

Donald Candela, D. R. McAllaster, L-J. Wei +1 more

Caroline Stier, Nicolas Cherroret

We show that quasi-paraxial fluids of light propagating in nonlinear Kerr media naturally experience an effective gauge field arising from the intrinsic spin-orbit interaction of light encoded in Maxwell equations. By deriving the leading nonparaxial corrections to the nonlinear Schrödinger equation governing the fluid evolution, we find that, for circularly polarized beams, these corrections generate an effective Lorentz force that modifies the fluid dynamics. Remarkably, the corresponding gauge field is not externally imposed but self-consistently generated by the fluid itself, with its sign controlled by the light helicity and its magnitude governed by the spatial variations of the nonlinear refractive index. We illustrate the physical consequences of this gauge field in two configurations: the chiral deformation of normal and superfluid flows past an obstacle, accompanied by a transverse spin Hall force, and the cumulative precession of an optical wave packet trapped in a focusing fluid.

Alberto Bramati, Michele Modugno

亮五 久保, 文彦 高野

Franck Laloë, Gérard Vermeulen

We briefly review the field of spin polarized fluids. The study of spin polarized hydrogen was initially motivated by the hope to observed a Bose–Einstein condensation in a dilute gas. This goal has not yet been reached but, on the way, a lot of beautiful physics has been done, including atom–wall interactions studies and the observation of nuclear spin waves. Spin polarized helium can be studied in gas, liquid and solid phases. The two major polarization methods are fast melting of polarized solid or fast condensation of optically pumped helium three gas. We briefly discuss heat conductivity changes under the effect of nuclear spin polarization, sound velocity, and finally liquid–gas phase diagrams.