No Arabic abstract
Ultra-cold atomic systems provide a new setting where to investigate the role of long-range interactions. In this paper we will review the basics features of those physical systems, in particular focusing on the case of Chromium atoms. On the experimental side, we report on the observation of dipolar effects in the expansion dynamics of a Chromium Bose-Einstein condensate. By using a Feshbach resonance, the scattering length characterising the contact interaction can be strongly reduced, thus increasing the relative effect of the dipole-dipole interaction. Such experiments make Chromium atoms the strongest candidates at present for the achievement of the strong dipolar regime. On the theoretical side, we investigate the behaviour of ultra-cold dipolar systems in the presence of a periodic potential. We discuss how to realise this situation experimentally and we characterise the system in terms of its quantum phases and metastable states, discussing in detail the differences with respect to the case of zero-range interactions.
We present a concise review of the physics of ultra-cold dipolar gases, based mainly on the theoretical developments in our own group. First, we discuss shortly weakly interacting ultra-cold trapped dipolar gases. Dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates exhibit non-standard instabilities and the physics of both Bose and Fermi dipolar gases depends on the trap geometry. We focus then the second part of the paper on strongly correlated dipolar gases and discuss ultra-cold dipolar gases in optical lattices. Such gases exhibit a spectacular richness of quantum phases and metastable states, which may perhaps be used as quantum memories. We comment shortly on the possibility of superchemistry aiming at the creation of dipolar heteronuclear molecules in lattices. Finally, we turn to ultra-cold dipolar gases in artificial magnetic fields, and consider rotating dipolar gases, that provide in our opinion the best option towards the realization of the fractional quantum Hall effect and quantum Wigner crystals.
We study the role played by the magnetic dipole interaction in an atomic interferometer based on an alkali Bose-Einstein condensate with tunable scattering length. We tune the s-wave interaction to zero using a magnetic Feshbach resonance and measure the decoherence of the interferometer induced by the weak residual interaction between the magnetic dipoles of the atoms. We prove that with a proper choice of the scattering length it is possible to compensate for the dipolar interaction and extend the coherence time of the interferometer. We put in evidence the anisotropic character of the dipolar interaction by working with two different experimental configurations for which the minima of decoherence are achieved for a positive and a negative value of the scattering length, respectively. Our results are supported by a theoretical model we develop. This model indicates that the magnetic dipole interaction should not represent a serious source of decoherence in atom interferometers based on Bose-Einstein condensates.
The momentum distribution function for the two-component 1D gases of bosons and fermions is studied in the limit of strong interatomic repulsion. A pronounced reconstruction of the distribution is found at a temperature much smaller than the Fermi temperature. This new temperature scale, which equals the Fermi temperature divided by the dimensionless coupling strength, is a feature of the two-component model and does not exist in the one-component case. We estimate the parameters relevant for the experimental observation of the crossover effect.
We study the influence of two resonant laser beams (to be referred to as the control and probe beams) on the centre of mass motion of ultra-cold atoms characterised by three energy levels of the Lambda-type. The laser beams being in the Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) configuration drive the atoms to their dark states. We impose the adiabatic approximation and obtain an effective equation of motion for the dark state atoms. The equation contains a vector potential type interaction as well as an effective trapping potential. We concentrate on the situation where the control and probe beams are co-propagating and have Orbital Angular Momenta (OAM). The effective magnetic field is then oriented along the propagation direction of the control and probe beams. Its spatial profile can be shaped by choosing proper laser beams. We analyse several situations where the effective magnetic field exhibits a radial dependence. In particular we study effective magnetic fields induced by Bessel beams, and demonstrate how to generate a constant effective magnetic field for a ring geometry of the atomic trap. We also discuss a possibility to create an effective field of a magnetic monopole.
We discuss the hydrodynamic approach to the study of the time evolution -induced by a quench- of local excitations in one dimension. We focus on interaction quenches: the considered protocol consists in creating a stable localized excitation propagating through the system, and then operating a sudden change of the interaction between the particles. To highlight the effect of the quench, we take the initial excitation to be a soliton. The quench splits the excitation into two packets moving in opposite directions, whose characteristics can be expressed in a universal way. Our treatment allows to describe the internal dynamics of these two packets in terms of the different velocities of their components. We confirm our analytical predictions through numerical simulations performed with the Gross-Pitaevskii equation and with the Calogero model (as an example of long range interactions and solvable with a parabolic confinement). Through the Calogero model we also discuss the effect of an external trapping on the protocol. The hydrodynamic approach shows that there is a difference between the bulk velocities of the propagating packets and the velocities of their peaks: it is possible to discriminate the two quantities, as we show through the comparison between numerical simulations and analytical estimates. In the realizations of the discussed quench protocol in a cold atom experiment, these different velocities are accessible through different measurement procedures.