Abstract We study the stability and characteristics of two-dimensional (2D) quasi-isotropic quantum droplets (QDs) of fundamental and vortex types, formed by binary Bose–Einstein condensate with magnetic quadrupole–quadrupole interactions (MQQIs). The magnetic quadrupoles are built as pairs of dipoles and antidipoles polarized along the x-axis. The MQQIs are induced by applying an external magnetic field that varies along the x-axis. The system is modeled by the Gross–Pitaevskii equations including the MQQIs and Lee-Huang-Yang correction to the mean-field approximation. Stable 2D fundamental QDs and quasi-isotropic vortex QDs with topological charges S ⩽ 4 are produced by means of the imaginary-time-integration method for configurations with the quadrupoles polarized parallel to the system’s two-dimensional plane. Effects of the norm and MQQI strength on the QDs are studied in detail. Some results, including an accurate prediction of the effective area, chemical potential, and peak density of QDs, are obtained in an analytical form by means of the Thomas-Fermi approximation. Collisions between moving QDs are studied by means of systematic simulations.
Bose-Einstein condensation(BEC) has been a research hotspot in cold atom physics for the past few decades. Recently, experiments on BECs have reported the observation of liquid-like quantum droplets, attracting significant interest. The physics for forming quantum droplets can be explained by zero-point quantum fluctuation which effectively prohibit the collapse caused by the mean-field interactions between the atoms. The stabilization mechanism beyond the mean-field theory, induced by quantum fluctuations, can be described by the Lee–Huang–Yang(LHY) correction. Normally, forming stable 2D or 3D solitons in free space is a challenging problem. Additionally, an intriguing question is how to generate 2D or 3D solitons with embedded vorticity. The LHY stability mechanism offers a new approach to producing stable solitons and vortex solitons in BECs. In this thesis, two-dimensional vortex quantum droplets in Bose-Einstein condensates, including those with and without external potential, are examined. The study of solitons and vortex solitons in BECs under mean-field interactions and external potential has yielded significant results. This thesis expands this field by introducing the LHY correction to study stable quantum droplets and vortex droplets in BECs. The work chapters begin with studying binary quantum droplets in free space, considering the case where interspecies interactions are weakly attractive and intraspecies interactions are weakly repulsive. The zero-vorticity, semi-vortex, and binary vortex quantum droplets are studied in Chapter 3. Stable semi-vortex quantum droplets with embedded vorticity up to 8 are found in this system. This result gives a way to form stable vortex droplets with high topological charges in free space by controlling one component with zero vorticity and the other component with embedded vorticity. The stability and properties of these droplets are systematically studied. Chapter 4 explores the vortex quantum droplets and hidden vortex droplets confined within a radial lattice trap. It is found that the existence curves of the droplets confined within this optical trap could violate the Vakhitov-Kolokolov(VK) criterion, which is a necessary condition to form a stable soliton. A remarkable finding is that the vortex and hidden vortex quantum droplets in this radial lattice remain stable when they carry the embedded vorticity up to 11. The double-ring vortex and hidden vortex quantum droplets confined within this radial lattice are also discussed. The work expands from non-magnetic atoms to magnetic atoms in Chapter 5, which needs to consider the dipole-dipole interactions(DDIs). The anisotropic dipolar vortex quantum droplets trapped in an annular potential are studied. Under the effect of the ring shape potential, the double peak ring-shaped vortex droplets remain stable when they carry the embedded vorticity up to 11. It is the first time stable droplets with high topological charges have been formed in a dipolar system. Additionally, the shape transformation of dipolar vortex droplets induced by the strength of the mean-field interaction is examined. Finally, the behavior of dipolar vortex droplets confined within a weak-depth annular potential is also discussed. The results of this thesis may prove highly useful in creating stable vortex quantum droplets in Bose-Einstein condensates and advancing the broader field of ultracold atoms.
Bose-Einstein condensation(BEC) has been a research hotspot in cold atom physics for the past few decades. Recently, experiments on BECs have reported the observation of liquid-like quantum droplets, attracting significant interest. The physics for forming quantum droplets can be explained by zero-point quantum fluctuation which effectively prohibit the collapse caused by the mean-field interactions between the atoms. The stabilization mechanism beyond the mean-field theory, induced by quantum fluctuations, can be described by the Lee–Huang–Yang(LHY) correction. Normally, forming stable 2D or 3D solitons in free space is a challenging problem. Additionally, an intriguing question is how to generate 2D or 3D solitons with embedded vorticity. The LHY stability mechanism offers a new approach to producing stable solitons and vortex solitons in BECs. In this thesis, two-dimensional vortex quantum droplets in Bose-Einstein condensates, including those with and without external potential, are examined. The study of solitons and vortex solitons in BECs under mean-field interactions and external potential has yielded significant results. This thesis expands this field by introducing the LHY correction to study stable quantum droplets and vortex droplets in BECs. The work chapters begin with studying binary quantum droplets in free space, considering the case where interspecies interactions are weakly attractive and intraspecies interactions are weakly repulsive. The zero-vorticity, semi-vortex, and binary vortex quantum droplets are studied in Chapter 3. Stable semi-vortex quantum droplets with embedded vorticity up to 8 are found in this system. This result gives a way to form stable vortex droplets with high topological charges in free space by controlling one component with zero vorticity and the other component with embedded vorticity. The stability and properties of these droplets are systematically studied. Chapter 4 explores the vortex quantum droplets and hidden vortex droplets confined within a radial lattice trap. It is found that the existence curves of the droplets confined within this optical trap could violate the Vakhitov-Kolokolov(VK) criterion, which is a necessary condition to form a stable soliton. A remarkable finding is that the vortex and hidden vortex quantum droplets in this radial lattice remain stable when they carry the embedded vorticity up to 11. The double-ring vortex and hidden vortex quantum droplets confined within this radial lattice are also discussed. The work expands from non-magnetic atoms to magnetic atoms in Chapter 5, which needs to consider the dipole-dipole interactions(DDIs). The anisotropic dipolar vortex quantum droplets trapped in an annular potential are studied. Under the effect of the ring shape potential, the double peak ring-shaped vortex droplets remain stable when they carry the embedded vorticity up to 11. It is the first time stable droplets with high topological charges have been formed in a dipolar system. Additionally, the shape transformation of dipolar vortex droplets induced by the strength of the mean-field interaction is examined. Finally, the behavior of dipolar vortex droplets confined within a weak-depth annular potential is also discussed. The results of this thesis may prove highly useful in creating stable vortex quantum droplets in Bose-Einstein condensates and advancing the broader field of ultracold atoms.
We predict a scheme for the creation of isotropic three-dimensional quantum droplets in Rydbeg-dressed Bose gases, which contain both repulsive contact interactions and attractive soft-core interactions. Via manipulating laser detuning, the droplet size and particle number density could be engineered. Quantum fluctuation induced Lee-Huang-Yang (LHY) correction should be considered to stabilize droplets when LHY energy is comparable to the mean-field energy. Self-trapped droplets possess flat-top density distribution for a large particle number, and the collective excitations are calculated to determine the self-evaporation threshold. We further distinguish quantum droplets from solitons according to condensate compressibility. Finally, the dynamic stability of droplets is examined by pairwise-droplet collision. Our system could realize the most dilute quantum droplets, and establish a promising platform for further simulating topological nontrivial droplets. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
It was recently found that the Lee-Huang-Yang (LHY) correction to the mean-field Hamiltonian of binary atomic boson condensates suppresses the collapse and creates stable localized modes (two-component quantum droplets, QDs) in two and three dimensions (2D and 3D). In particular, the LHY effect modifies the effective Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE) in 2D by adding a logarithmic factor to the usual cubic term. In the framework of the accordingly modified two-component GPE system, we construct 2D self-trapped modes in the form of QDs with vorticity
S embedded into each component. Because of the effect of the logarithmic factor, the QDs feature a flat-top shape, which expands with the increase of
S and norm
N. An essential finding, produced by a systematic numerical investigation and analytical estimates, is that the vortical QDs are stable (which is a critical issue for vortex solitons in nonlinear models) up to
S=5, for
N exceeding a certain threshold value, which is predicted to scale as ${N}_{\mathrm{th}}\ensuremath{\sim}{S}^{4}$ for large
S (for three-dimensional QDs, the scaling is ${N}_{\mathrm{th}}\ensuremath{\sim}{S}^{6}$). The prediction is corroborated by numerical findings. Pivots of QDs with $S\ensuremath{\ge}2$ are subject to structural instability, as specially selected perturbations can split the single pivot in a set of
S or
S+2 pivots corresponding to unitary vortices; however, the structural instability remains virtually invisible, as it occurs in a broad central ``hole'' of the vortex soliton, where values of fields are very small, and it does not cause any dynamical instability. In the condensate of
39K atoms, in which QDs with
S=0 and a quasi-2D shape were created recently, the vortical droplets may have radial size $\ensuremath{\lesssim}30\phantom{\rule{0.16em}{0ex}}\ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m}$, with the number of atoms in the range of
104−−105. The role of three-body losses is considered too, demonstrating that they do not prevent the creation of the vortex droplets but may produce a noteworthy effect, leading to sudden splitting of ``light'' droplets. In addition, hidden-vorticity (HV) states in QDs, with topological charges ${S}_{+}=\ensuremath{-}{S}_{\ensuremath{-}}=1$ in their components, which are prone to strong instability in other settings, have their stability region too. Unstable HV states tend to spontaneously merge into zero-vorticity solitons. Collisions of QDs, which may lead to their merger, and dynamics of elliptically deformed QDs (which form rotating elongated patterns or ones with oscillations of the eccentricity) are briefly considered too.
This concise review summarizes recent advancements in theoretical studies of vortex quantum droplets (VQDs) in matter-wave fields. These are robust self-trapped vortical states in two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) with intrinsic nonlinearity. Stability of VQDs is provided by additional nonlinearities resulting from quantum fluctuations around mean-field states, often referred to as the Lee–Huang–Yang (LHY) corrections. The basic models are presented, with emphasis on the interplay between the mean-field nonlinearity, LHY correction, and spatial dimension, which determines the structure and stability of VQDs. We embark by delineating fundamental properties of VQDs in the 3D free space, followed by consideration of their counterparts in the 2D setting. Additionally, we address stabilization of matter-wave VQDs by optical potentials. Finally, we summarize results for the study of VQDs in the single-component BEC of atoms carrying magnetic moments. In that case, the anisotropy of the long-range dipole-dipole interactions endows the VQDs with unique characteristics. The results produced by the theoretical studies in this area directly propose experiments for the observation of novel physical effects in the realm of quantum matter, and suggest potential applications to the design of new schemes for processing classical and quantum information.