Quantum droplets are small clusters of atoms self-bound by the balance of attractive and repulsive forces. Here, we report on the observation of droplets solely stabilized by contact interactions in a mixture of two Bose-Einstein condensates. We demonstrate that they are several orders of magnitude more dilute than liquid helium by directly measuring their size and density via in situ imaging. We show that the droplets are stablized against collapse by quantum fluctuations and that they require a minimum atom number to be stable. Below that number, quantum pressure drives a liquid-to-gas transition that we map out as a function of interaction strength. These ultradilute isotropic liquids remain weakly interacting and constitute an ideal platform to benchmark quantum many-body theories.
Quantum fluctuations can stabilize Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) against the mean-field collapse. Stabilization of the condensate has been observed in quantum degenerate Bose-Bose mixtures and dipolar BECs. The fine-tuning of the interatomic interactions can lead to the emergence of two new states of matter: liquid-like self-bound quantum droplets and supersolid crystals formed from these droplets. We review the properties of these exotic states of matter and summarize the experimental progress made using dipolar quantum gases and Bose-Bose mixtures. We conclude with an outline of important open questions that could be addressed in the future.
We study liquid quantum droplets in a mixture of two-component Bose-Einstein condensates under variable confinement introduced along one or two spatial dimensions. Although the atom-atom scattering has a three-dimensional character, discreteness of the available modes in the reduced dimension(s) strongly influences the zero-point energy, which for a weakly interacting three-dimensional system is given by the Lee-Huang-Yang term. Here, we generalize the result of Lee, Huang, and Yang and calculate the higher order corrections to the mean-field energy for a single component Bose-Einstein condensate under condition of a tight confinement in one or two spatial directions. We apply our results to the two-component mixture of bosonic species under conditions favorable for the creation of quantum liquid droplets, which constitute a perfect playground for studies of the beyond mean-field effects. Our findings allow one to analyze the properties of quantum droplets at the dimensional crossover and provide demanding conditions for accessing quasilow dimensions. They also pave a way for experimental exploration of this state of matter in reduced dimensions.