No Arabic abstract
We present experimental evidence of photon droplets in an attractive (focusing) nonlocal nonlinear medium. Photon droplets are self-bound, finite-sized states of light that are robust to size and shape perturbations due to a balance of competing attractive and repulsive forces. It has recently been shown theoretically, via a multipole expansion of the nonlocal nonlinearity, that the self-bound state arises due to competition between the s-wave and d-wave nonlinear terms, together with diffraction. The theoretical photon droplet framework encompasses both a soliton-like stationary ground state and the non-soliton-like dynamics that ensue when the system is displaced from equilibrium, i.e. driven into an excited state. We present numerics and experiments supporting the existence of these photon droplet states and measurements of the dynamical evolution of the photon droplet orbital angular momentum.
More than eighty years ago, H. Bethe pointed out the existence of bound states of elementary spin waves in one-dimensional quantum magnets. To date, identifying signatures of such magnon bound states has remained a subject of intense theoretical research while their detection has proved challenging for experiments. Ultracold atoms offer an ideal setting to reveal such bound states by tracking the spin dynamics after a local quantum quench with single-spin and single-site resolution. Here we report on the direct observation of two-magnon bound states using in-situ correlation measurements in a one-dimensional Heisenberg spin chain realized with ultracold bosonic atoms in an optical lattice. We observe the quantum walk of free and bound magnon states through time-resolved measurements of the two spin impurities. The increased effective mass of the compound magnon state results in slower spin dynamics as compared to single magnon excitations. In our measurements, we also determine the decay time of bound magnons, which is most likely limited by scattering on thermal fluctuations in the system. Our results open a new pathway for studying fundamental properties of quantum magnets and, more generally, properties of interacting impurities in quantum many-body systems.
The structure and dynamics of one-dimensional binary Bose gases forming quantum droplets is studied by solving the corresponding amended Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Two physically different regimes are identified, corresponding to small droplets of an approximately Gaussian shape and large `puddles with a broad flat-top plateau. Small droplets collide quasi-elastically, featuring the soliton-like behavior. On the other hand, large colliding droplets may merge or suffer fragmentation, depending on their relative velocity. The frequency of a breathing excited state of droplets, as predicted by the dynamical variational approximation based on the Gaussian ansatz, is found to be in good agreement with numerical results. Finally, the stability diagram for a single droplet with respect to shape excitations with a given wave number is drawn, being consistent with preservation of the Weber number for large droplets.
We report on the formation of heteronuclear quantum droplets in an attractive bosonic mixture of 41K and 87Rb. We observe long-lived self-bound states, both in free space and in an optical waveguide. In the latter case, the dynamics under the effect of a species-dependent force confirms their bound nature. By tuning the interactions from the weakly to the strongly attractive regime, we study the transition from expanding to localized states, in both geometries. We compare the experimental results with beyond mean-field theory and we find a good agreement in the full range of explored interactions. Our findings open up the production of long-lived droplets with important implications for further research.
Quantum fluctuations are the origin of genuine quantum many-body effects, and can be neglected in classical mean-field phenomena. Here we report on the observation of stable quantum droplets containing $sim$ 800 atoms which are expected to collapse at the mean-field level due to the essentially attractive interaction. By systematic measurements on individual droplets we demonstrate quantitatively that quantum fluctuations stabilize them against the mean-field collapse. We observe in addition interference of several droplets indicating that this stable many-body state is phase coherent.
We theoretically investigate the self-evaporation dynamics of quantum droplets in a 41K-87Rb mixture, in free-space. The dynamical formation of the droplet and the effects related to the presence of three-body losses are analyzed by means of numerical simulations. We identify a regime of parameters allowing for the observation of the droplet self-evaporation in a feasible experimental setup.