In this study we investigate the properties of trapped atoms subjected to rapid rotations. The study is divided into two distinct parts, one for fermions, another for bosons. In the case of the degenerate Fermi gas we explore the density structure of non-interacting cold atoms when they are rotated rapidly. On the other hand, for rapidly rotating two component Bose condensate, we search for new lattice structures in the presence of contact and dipolar interactions. First, the density structure of Fermi gases in a rotating trap is investigated. We focus on the anisotropic trap case, in which two distinct regimes, two and one dimensional regimes, depending on rotation frequency and anisotropy are observed. Two regimes can be illustrated by a simple description of maximum number of states between two Landau levels, which is strongly related to the dimensionality of the system. The regimes are separated from each other by a minimum point in this description. For small anisotropy values the density profiles show a step structure where each step is demonstrated by an elliptical plateau. Each plateau represents a Landau level with a constant density. The local density approximation describes the two dimensional regime with a perfect similarity in the structure of fermion density. The case for one dimensional regime is a little different from the two dimensional case. For large anisotropy values the Friedel oscillation is the dominant aspect of the density profiles. The density profiles show gaussian structure along the direction of strong trapping, and a semicircular form with prominent oscillations along the weak confining direction. Again, the system is nicely described by local density approximation in this regime. A smooth crossover between two regimes is observed, with a switching from a step structure profile to a soft edge transition with Friedel oscillations. At finite temperatures, the step structures are smeared out in two dimension. In one dimensional regime the Friedel oscillations are cleaned as soon as the temperature is turned on. The second part of the study is devoted to the investigation of different lattice structures in two component Bose condensates subjected to very fast rotation, this time in the presence of interactions. We explore the existence of new vortex lattice structures for dipolar two component condensates scanning a wide range of interaction strengths. We introduce a phase diagram as a function of intra and inter-component interactions showing different type of vortex lattice structures. New types of lattice structures, overlapped square and overlapped rectangular, emerge as a result of dipolar interactions and s-wave interaction for a two component condensate. The region where the attractive inter-component interactions dominate the repulsive interactions, the overlapped lattices are formed. The intra-component interactions, which defines the behavior of each component inside, result in different type of lattices by changing the strength of interactions. Two different limits of phase diagram reproduce the results of ordinary two component and dipolar one component Bose condensates. The results of calculation are in agreement with the results of previous studies for two regimes.
In this study we investigate the properties of trapped atoms subjected to rapid rotations. The study is divided into two distinct parts, one for fermions, another for bosons. In the case of the degenerate Fermi gas we explore the density structure of non-interacting cold atoms when they are rotated rapidly. On the other hand, for rapidly rotating two component Bose condensate, we search for new lattice structures in the presence of contact and dipolar interactions. First, the density structure of Fermi gases in a rotating trap is investigated. We focus on the anisotropic trap case, in which two distinct regimes, two and one dimensional regimes, depending on rotation frequency and anisotropy are observed. Two regimes can be illustrated by a simple description of maximum number of states between two Landau levels, which is strongly related to the dimensionality of the system. The regimes are separated from each other by a minimum point in this description. For small anisotropy values the density profiles show a step structure where each step is demonstrated by an elliptical plateau. Each plateau represents a Landau level with a constant density. The local density approximation describes the two dimensional regime with a perfect similarity in the structure of fermion density. The case for one dimensional regime is a little different from the two dimensional case. For large anisotropy values the Friedel oscillation is the dominant aspect of the density profiles. The density profiles show gaussian structure along the direction of strong trapping, and a semicircular form with prominent oscillations along the weak confining direction. Again, the system is nicely described by local density approximation in this regime. A smooth crossover between two regimes is observed, with a switching from a step structure profile to a soft edge transition with Friedel oscillations. At finite temperatures, the step structures are smeared out in two dimension. In one dimensional regime the Friedel oscillations are cleaned as soon as the temperature is turned on. The second part of the study is devoted to the investigation of different lattice structures in two component Bose condensates subjected to very fast rotation, this time in the presence of interactions. We explore the existence of new vortex lattice structures for dipolar two component condensates scanning a wide range of interaction strengths. We introduce a phase diagram as a function of intra and inter-component interactions showing different type of vortex lattice structures. New types of lattice structures, overlapped square and overlapped rectangular, emerge as a result of dipolar interactions and s-wave interaction for a two component condensate. The region where the attractive inter-component interactions dominate the repulsive interactions, the overlapped lattices are formed. The intra-component interactions, which defines the behavior of each component inside, result in different type of lattices by changing the strength of interactions. Two different limits of phase diagram reproduce the results of ordinary two component and dipolar one component Bose condensates. The results of calculation are in agreement with the results of previous studies for two regimes.
We present an analytical solution for the vortex lattice in a rapidly rotating trapped Bose-Einstein condensate in the lowest Landau level and discuss deviations from the Thomas-Fermi density profile. This solution is exact in the limit of a large number of vortices and is obtained for the cases of circularly symmetric and narrow channel geometries. The latter is realized when the trapping frequencies in the plane perpendicular to the rotation axis are different from each other and the rotation frequency is equal to the smallest of them. This leads to the cancellation of the trapping potential in the direction of the weaker confinement and makes the system infinitely elongated in this direction. For this case we calculate the phase diagram as a function of the interaction strength and rotation frequency and identify the order of quantum phase transitions between the states with a different number of vortex rows.
Rapidly rotating atomic gases provide a platform for studying phenomena akin to type-II superconductors and quantum Hall systems. Recently, these systems have attracted renewed interest due to technological advances in the trap anisotropy control, in-situ observation capabilities, and cooling and rotating complex atomic species such as dipolar gases. Understanding the vortex lattice formation and quantum melting is crucial for exploring quantum Hall physics in these systems. In this paper, we theoretically investigate the vortex lattices in anisotropic quantum gases. We formulate the rotating gas Hamiltonian in the Landau gauge, and consider the effects of additional perturbations such as the trap potential in the lowest Landau level (LLL). Focusing on the gases with short-range interactions, we obtain the many-body Hamiltonian projected to lowest Landau level. We consider the limit of full Bose-Einstein condensation and obtain the governing Gross-Pitaevskii equation to identify the possible vortex phases. We numerically solve the Gross-Pitaevskii equation using the imaginary time evolution, and demonstrate the possible vortex lattices as a function of anisotropy, rotation speed and interaction strength. We show that the number of states with a support in the LLL, which determines the number of vortices, follows a Thomas-Fermi type scaling albeit with slightly different coefficients from the usual condensates.
In this thesis we study the effects of the dipole-dipole interaction on the physics of ultracold quantum gases, both bosonic and fermionic, within the theoretical framework provided by the mean-field regime. This kind of interaction takes place in ultracold atomic gases (for instance 52Cr or 164Dy) due to their atomic magnetic dipole moment, and in ultracold molecular gases due to the magnetic or electric dipole moment. \n \nIn the case of quantum gases of bosonic atoms, or Bose-Einstein condensates, the dipole-dipole interaction can be studied within mean-field approximation using the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, which now contains a new non-linear term due to the dipole-dipole interaction. We investigate, on the one hand dipolar condensates confined in harmonic traps, and on the other dipolar condensates confined in toroidal traps. In the harmonic geometry, our focus is on the study of the ground state and the quantized vortex state, where the density profile is characterized as well as some properties leading to the process of vortex formation, such as the critical frequency and the energy barrier that has to be overcome to bring the vortex from the surface to the centre of the gas. We finish the study of dipolar condensates in harmonic traps by dynamically simulating the precession frequency of an off-center vortex in a non-rotating condensate. \n \nIn the toroidal geometry the dipolar effects are strongly magnified when the polarization axis of the dipoles is perpendicular to the trap symmetry axis. In this case, the anisotropic structure of the density can be understood as the response of the system to the double-well effective potential along the ring. We have studied the dynamics of this system when the initial number of atoms in the left and right wells is imbalanced, predicting Josephson and self-trapping oscillations depending on the initial condition. This has led us to name this new system as Self-induced Josephson Junction. We have studied in detail the self-trapping regime and we have seen that the particle flux inversion is closely related to the crossing of vortices across the Josephson junctions. This result opens the door to establishing a more direct connection between the phase-slip regime, widely addressed in superfluid helium, and the self-trapping regime of condensates. \n \nIn the case of quantum gases of fermionic dipolar particles, we have studied how the radial quadrupole mode allows one to distinguish between hydrodynamic and collisionless regimes. We have analytically calculated the frequency of this mode in the mean-field approximation, generalizing the results from the Thomas-Fermi approximation for trapped ideal Fermi gases. On the one hand, we observe that the frequency in the hydrodynamic regime is smaller than in non-dipolar Fermi gases, while in the collisionless regime the frequency is larger or smaller than that corresponding to the non-interacting system depending on the geometry of the harmonic trap. On the other hand, we predict that reducing the trap deformation (aspect ratio) an observable jump in the frequency of the radial quadrupole mode would take place, which would correspond to the transition between the collisionless and hydrodynamic regimes, for instance when the gas undergoes the transition to the superfluid state.
In this article, we review developments in the theory of rapidly rotating degenerate atomic gases. The main focus is on the equilibrium properties of a single-component atomic Bose gas, which (at least at rest) forms a Bose–Einstein condensate. Rotation leads to the formation of quantized vortices which order into a vortex array, in close analogy with the behaviour of superfluid helium. Under conditions of rapid rotation, when the vortex density becomes large, atomic Bose gases offer the possibility to explore the physics of quantized vortices in novel parameter regimes. First, there is an interesting regime in which the vortices become sufficiently dense that their cores, as set by the healing length, start to overlap. In this regime, the theoretical description simplifies, allowing a reduction to single-particle states in the lowest Landau level. Second, one can envisage entering a regime of very high vortex density, when the number of vortices becomes comparable to the number of particles in the gas. In this regime, theory predicts the appearance of a series of strongly correlated phases, which can be viewed as bosonic versions of fractional quantum Hall states. In this article, we describe the equilibrium properties of rapidly rotating atomic Bose gases in both the mean-field and the strongly correlated regimes, and related theoretical developments for Bose gases in lattices, for multi-component Bose gases and for atomic Fermi gases. The current experimental situation and outlook for the future are discussed in light of these theoretical developments.
This thesis discusses two important topics in ultracold atomic gases: strong interactions in quantum gases, and quantum Hall physics in neutral atoms.First we give a brief introduction on basic scattering models in atomic physics, and an approach to adjust the interactions between atoms.We also include a list of experimental probes in cold atom physics.After these introductions, in Chapter 3, we report a few interesting problems in strongly interacting quantum gases.We introduce the BCS-BEC crossover model and relevant many-body techniques at the beginning, and discuss the details of several specific systems.We find the Fermi gases across narrow Feshbach resonances are strongly interacting at low temperature even when the magnetic field is several widths away from the resonance.We also discuss an approach to describe the metastable repulsive branch of Bose and Fermi gases across the resonance, and find a stable region of repulsive Bose gas close to unitarity.Some studies in two dimensional Fermi gases with spin imbalance are also included, and they are closely related to a number of recent experiments.In Chapter 4, we discuss quantum Hall physics in the context of neutral atomic gases.After illustrating how the Berry phase experienced by neutral atoms is equivalent to the magnetic field in electrons, we introduce the newly developed synthetic gauge field scheme in which a gauge potential is coupled to the neutral atoms.We give a detail introduction to this Raman coupling scheme developed by NIST group, and derive the theoretical model of the system.Then we make some predictions on the evolution of quantum Hall states when an extra anisotropy is applied from the external trap.Finally, we propose some experiments to verify our predictions.4.9 Phase diagram of the cloud in rotating anisotropic traps: two phases of the BEC and QH are identified. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.10 Distortion and transition in vortex lattices of a rapidly rotating BEC in an anisotropic trap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.11 Density profiles at cut x = 0 and y = 0 of the Laughlin wavefunctions at different positions in figure 4.9. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.12 Distribution of zeros in the relative coordinate of the ground state of two body problem in rotating anisotropic traps. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.13 Variation in the distance of splitting zeros as a function of inverse interaction strength, for fixed anisotropy α = 0.96. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.14 Density profiles after TOF expansion of the gas in a rotating isotropic trap.4.15 Density profiles after TOF expansion of anisotropy α = 0.94. . . . . . . . .4.16 Second order correlation in equation 4.64, in a rotating isotropic (left) and anisotropic (right) trap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.17 A sketch of high-resolution in situ imaging technique in neutral atoms. . . .4.18 In situ images of the quantity |ψ(r/2, -r/2)| for an anisotropy α = 0.96. .x
Ultracold dilute atomic gases are highly controllable systems whose properties are fundamentally determined by the interatomic interactions.In typical experiments on ultra cold gases particles interact dominantly via a short-range isotropic potential.However, during the last years a new generation of experiments is starting to explore systems, where an additional interaction, the long-range and anisotropic dipole-dipole interaction plays a significant or possibly dominant role.The effects induced by the anisotropy of the dipole-dipole interaction are crucially enhanced if the dipolar gas is confined in a deep optical lattice.In this thesis we study novel phenomena in such systems of dipolar gases in deep optical lattices.The nonlocal nonlinearity introduced by the dipole-dipole interaction plays a crucial role in the physics of dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates.In particular, it may distort significantly the stability of straight vortex lines.Remarkably, in the presence of a periodic potential along the vortex line, the spectrum of transverse modes shows a roton-like minimum, which eventually destabilizes the straight vortex when the BEC as a whole is still stable, opening the possibility for new scenarios for vortex line configurations in dipolar gases.We have analyzed this instability, and showed that it leads to a second-order-like phase transition from a straight vortex line into novel helical or snake-like configurations, depending on the dipole orientation.Strong 1D lattices usually lead to unconnected two-dimensional gases.The long-range character of the dipole-dipole interactions leads to a novel scenario where non-overlapping gases at different sites may interact significantly.We show that the excitations of non-overlapping condensates in 1D optical lattices acquire a band-like character, being collectively shared by different sites.In particular, the hybridization of the modes significantly enhances the rotonization of the excitations, and may induce roton-instability.We discuss the observability of this effect in on-going experiments.Fermionic polar molecules in deep 1D optical lattices may form selfassembled filaments when the electric dipoles are oriented along the lattice axis.These composites are bosons or fermions depending on the number of molecules per chain, leading to a peculiar and complex Bose-Fermi mixture, vi which we discuss in detail for the simplest case of a three-well potential.We show that the interplay between filament binding energy, transverse filament modes, and trimer Fermi energy leads to a rich variety of possible scenarios ranging from a degenerate Fermi gas of trimers to a binary mixture of two different types of bosonic dimers.We study the intriguing zero temperature and finite temperature physics of these composites for the particular case of an ideal filament gas loaded in 1D sites, and discuss possible methods to probe these chain mixtures.