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arXiv:cond-mat/9811147 · Physical Review A

Wave-function monopoles in Bose-Einstein condensates

Thomas Busch, J. R. Anglin

Published Oct 1, 1999• 26 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Experimental preparation of multispecies Bose-Einstein condensates should permit the creation of topologically stable defects beyond the superfluid vortex. But the coldness and isolation of condensates should also permit the survival for observable durations of ``pseudodefects,'' such as the one-dimensional dark soliton: localized structures related to a defect but not topologically stable. In this paper we investigate the viability of pseudodefects beyond one dimension, by examining ``wave-function monopoles'' in two-species condensates in two dimensions. We identify interesting instabilities, including a ``dancing mode'' for monopoles of higher winding number, and (in a one-dimensional limit) ``superfluid roulette.''

DOI
10.1103/physreva.60.r2669

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Experimental preparation of multispecies Bose-Einstein condensates should permit the creation of topologically stable defects beyond the superfluid vortex. But the coldness and isolation of condensates should also permit the survival for observable durations of pseudodefects,'' such as the one-dimensional dark soliton: localized structures related to a defect but not topologically stable. In this paper we investigate the viability of pseudodefects beyond one dimension, by examining wave-function monopoles'' in two-species condensates in two dimensions. We identify interesting instabilities, including a dancing mode'' for monopoles of higher winding number, and (in a one-dimensional limit) superfluid roulette.''
Topological defects play important roles throughout nature, appearing in contexts as diverse as cosmology, particle physics, superfluidity, liquid crystals, and metallurgy. Point defects can arise naturally as magnetic monopoles resulting from symmetry breaking in grand unified theories. We devised an experiment to create and detect quantum mechanical analogs of such monopoles in a spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate. The defects, which were stable on the time scale of our experiments, were identified from spin-resolved images of the condensate density profile that exhibit a characteristic dependence on the choice of quantization axis. Our observations lay the foundation for experimental studies of the dynamics and stability of topological point defects in quantum systems.
Since the discovery of Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute atomic vapours in 1995, there has been a monumental increase in the research effort in the field of atomic physics due to the unforeseen opportunities and challenges that the degenerate quantum gases present. In particular, quantum gases can emulate complicated models that arise in solid state and high energy physics, allowing realisations of exotic phenomena that have proven to be elusive in their original context. An outstanding example is the existence of various topological defects in degenerate quantum gases with internal degrees of freedom. Topological excitations such as skyrmions and several types of monopoles can be shown to take place in Bose gases with a hyperfine spin degree of freedom as a result of a coupling to an external field or due to thermal fluctuations. A central question in the context of dilute Bose gases is the relation between superfluidity and Bose-Einstein condensation. The dimensionality of the underlying space as well as the internal degrees of freedom have a direct impact on the existence and the nature of the Bose-Einstein condensate. For example, any uniform Bose gas in two spatial dimensions or an antiferromagnetic spinor Bose gas can give rise to a superfluid state which does not involve a conventional Bose-Einstein condensate corresponding to a single macroscopically occupied quantum state. In this Thesis, properties of different topological defects and their relation to superfluidity in dilute Bose gases are investigated. Stability and creation of coreless vortices are first studied and a method to cyclically increase the angular momentum of the condensate is introduced. Subsequently, the properties and creation of different types of monopoles are investigated and an experimentally feasible method to create a Dirac monopole is presented. Finally, finite temperature phase transitions in quasi-two-dimensional Bose gases with a spin degree of freedom are analysed and, as a related subject, the stability of vortex clusters formed by vortices and antivortices is studied.
We report the numerical realization of robust two-component structures in 2D and 3D Bose-Einstein condensates with nontrivial topological charge in one component. We identify a stable symbiotic state in which a higher-dimensional bright soliton exists even in a homogeneous setting with defocusing interactions, due to the effective potential created by a stable vortex in the other component. The resulting vortex-bright-solitons, generalizations of the recently experimentally observed dark-bright solitons, are found to be very robust both in the homogeneous medium and in the presence of external confinement.
The generation of dark solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates has been an area of interest since the first experimental condensates were produced. The ubiquity of solitons in the natural world makes them an important phenomenon to understand. Despite excellent theoretical work in two dimensional dark solitons, few experiments have had the opportunity to investigate this regime. The work presented investigates the generation of dark solitons in a Rb-87 Bose-Einstein condensate. The evolution and decay of these topological excitations are investigated. The decay of the dark solitons is found to vary with the phase-step used to generate them. Dark solitons created with a phase-step width of 0.60 ±0.15 μm are found to decay into vortices after 10 ms. Dark solitons generated with larger phase-steps are found not to exhibit this vortex decay, instead dissipating over 10-15 ms back into the condensate. The first experimental generation of two dimensional Jones-Roberts solitons is reported in this work. These dark solitons differ from the standard planar dark soliton in that they are finite in extent and are \nfound to be more dynamically stable. The Jones-Roberts solitons are observed for 40 ms with no observed change in energy. \n
Symmetry breaking during phase transitions can lead to the formation of topological defects (such as vortex lines in superfluids). However, the usually studied Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) have the shape of a cigar, a geometry that impedes vortex formation, survival, and detection. I show that, in elongated traps, one can expect the formation of gray solitons (long-lived, nontopological "phase defects") as a result of the same mechanism. Their number will rise approximately in proportion to the transition rate. This steep rise is due to the increasing size of the region of the BEC cigar where the phase of the condensate wave function is chosen locally (rather than passed on from the already formed BEC).