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Results in Physics

Spin–orbital angular momentum coupling in Bose–Einstein condensate and its spin dynamics

Eng Boon Ng, C. H. Raymond Ooi

Published Aug 19, 2023• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We examine the use of Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) laser beams in the tripod scheme to create the coupling between spin and orbital angular momentum in a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) confined by a harmonic trap. We derive and solve the Gross-Pitaeskii equation numerically to obtain the density distribution of the BEC. Orbital angular momentum from the LG beam is transferred to the BEC, inducing the formation of a giant vortex at the BEC’s centre. The macroscopic flow of spinor BEC around the vortex leads to a persistent spin current in the BEC.

DOI
10.1016/j.rinp.2023.106870

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•Jan 1, 2010•0 citations
We examine the use of Laguerre-Gaussian (LG) laser beams in the tripod scheme to create the coupling between spin and orbital angular momentum in a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) confined by a harmonic trap. We derive and solve the Gross-Pitaeskii equation numerically to obtain the density distribution of the BEC. Orbital angular momentum from the LG beam is transferred to the BEC, inducing the formation of a giant vortex at the BEC’s centre. The macroscopic flow of spinor BEC around the vortex leads to a persistent spin current in the BEC.
We describe the coherent transfer of the orbital angular momentum of a photon to an atom in quantized units of ℏ, using a 2-photon stimulated Raman process with Laguerre-Gaussian beams to generate an atomic vortex state in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of sodium atoms. We show that the process is coherent by creating superpositions of different vortex states, where the relative phase between the states is determined by the relative phases of the optical fields. We use this technique to generate circular flow of a BEC confined in a toriodal shaped trap. We measure that the flow of atoms persists for up to 10 seconds, which we interpret as the first evidence of persistent currents in a superfluid Bose gas.
We demonstrate coupling between the atomic spin- and orbital-angular momentum (OAM) of the atom's center-of-mass motion in a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). The coupling is induced by Raman-dressing lasers with a Laguerre-Gaussian beam and creates coreless vortices in an F=1 ^{87}Rb spinor BEC. We observe correlations between spin and OAM in the dressed state and characterize the spin texture; the result is in good agreement with the theory. In the presence of the Raman field, our dressed state is stable for 0.1 s or longer, and it decays due to collision-induced relaxation. As we turn off the Raman beams, the vortex cores in the bare spin |m_{F}=1⟩ and |-1⟩ split. These spin-OAM coupled systems with the Raman-dressing approach have great potential for exploring new topological textures and quantum states.
Coherent light-matter coupling via STIRAP can offer a versatile route to nucleate quantized vortices in Bose-Einstein condensates through the orbital angular momentum transfer from a vortex beam, yet its efficacy in dipolar condensates remains an open question. Can the orbital angular momentum of a Laguerre-Gaussian beam be coherently transferred to a dipolar BEC via STIRAP? We investigate this for a quasi-two-dimensional trapped dipolar condensate using co-propagating Gaussian and Laguerre-Gaussian laser beams. The interplay between long-range dipole-dipole interactions and short-range contact interactions enables access to three interaction-driven phases: superfluid, droplet, and supersolid. We find that the amount of angular momentum transferred from the optical field to the dipolar condensate, along with the nucleation and persistence of vortices, depends strongly on the underlying phases of the dipolar BEC. In the superfluid, STIRAP achieves a near-complete population transfer and nucleates a long-lived quantized vortex, reflecting efficient transfer of angular momentum to the condensate. In the droplet phase, although the vortex remains pinned within the density profile, the angular momentum is partially retained and oscillatory, accompanied by droplet fragmentation and recombination. In the supersolid phase, when the external magnetic field is oriented perpendicular to the LG beam's propagation direction, the emergence of a modulated density distribution along with a slight reduction in inter-droplet coherence leads to vortex delocalization and eventually exits from the condensate along the field direction, yielding a vanishing average angular momentum. However, reorienting the magnetic polarization along the beam propagation direction restores efficient angular momentum transfer and stabilizes the vortex within the supersolid phase.
Abstract In this paper, we have formulated a theory for the microscopic interaction of the asymmetric Laguerre–Gaussian (aLG) beam with the atomic Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) in a harmonic trap. Here the asymmetry is introduced to an LG beam considering a complex-valued shift in the Cartesian plane keeping the axis of the beam and its vortex states co-axial to the trap axis of the BEC. Due to the inclusion of the asymmetric nature, multiple quantized circulations are generated in the beam. We show how these quantized circulations are transferred to the BEC, resulting in a superposition of matter vortex states. The calculated Rabi frequencies for the dipole as well as quadrupole transitions during the transfer process show distinct variability with the shift parameters of the beam. A significant enhancement of the quadrupole Rabi frequency for higher vorticity states is observed compared to the symmetric single orbital angular momentum (OAM) mode beam at a particular range of the shift parameters. We also demonstrate the variation of superposition of matter vortex states and observe its distinct feature compared to the superposition of the LG modes for different shift parameters. The first order spatial correlation of the superposed states supports this feature and highlights asymmetry in the degree of transverse coherence along orthogonal directions on the surface.
The exchange of orbital angular momentum (OAM) between paraxial optical vortex and a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of atomic gases is well known. In this paper, we develop a theory for the microscopic interaction between matter and an optical vortex beyond paraxial approximation. We show how superposition of vortex states of BEC can be created with a focused optical vortex. Since the polarization or spin angular momentum (SAM) of the optical field is coupled with OAM of the field, in this case, these angular momenta can be transferred to the internal electronic and external center-of-mass motion of atoms provided both the motions are coupled. We propose a scheme for producing the superposition of matter-wave vortices using Gaussian and a focused Laguerre-Gaussian beam. We study how two-photon Rabi frequencies of stimulated Raman transitions vary with focusing angles for different combinations of OAM and SAM of optical states. We demonstrate the formation of vortex-antivortex structure and discuss interference of three vortex states in a BEC.
Using laser beams to generate gauge potentials in cold atoms provides an opportunity to study interesting quantum phenomena in condensed matter physics. In this thesis, a scheme to manipulate atomic wave functions and generate spin current in a trapped BEC—whose ground state can be freely controlled to be a vortex or non-vortex state—has been studied and discussed. Laguerre-Gaussian beams, which carry non-zero orbital angular momentum, can be used to create coupling between the 23S1 and 23P1 states in 4He atoms. Wavefunctions in atoms interacting with these beams have been expressed in new dressed states. For atoms moving adiabatically, the coupling among the dressed states can be neglected through adiabatic approximation and centre of mass of atoms would experience both effective vector potential and effective scalar potential. The eigenenergies and wavefunctions of a single atom have been calculated by computational methods. In addition, the ground-state energies, wavefunctions and spin current of many-body systems, in which the non-linear Gross-Pitaevskii particle-particle interaction is included, have been found. Comparing the result of a many-body system and those in the single particle system, the wavefunctions of the many-body system spread over a larger region than that in the single particle system, causing a significant difference in their spin current density. Also, the ground-state energy per particle in the many-body system is higher than that in the single particle system.