No Arabic abstract
The Comment by Wolfgang Ketterle (Ref.[1]) purports to present a viable model of superradiance in condensates. However, Ref.[1] is not able to explain the red/blue pump detuning asymmetry that was first observed recently by us (Ref.[2]). It is clear from our original paper (Ref.[3]) that the rate-equation-based theories of Ref.[1] are incomplete since they only model the final growth stage of the process when a red-detuned pump is used. Our theoretical framework (Ref.[3]), on the other hand, also treats the initial growth stage of superradiance and is therefore also capable of explaining the genesis of the red/blue detuning asymmetry (Ref.[2]). This is the key message of our response, which we frame in terms of reference to the specific points raised in Ref. [1].
We investigate experimentally the effects of light assisted collisions on the coherence between momentum states in Bose-Einstein condensates. The onset of superradiant Rayleigh scattering serves as a sensitive monitor for matter wave coherence. A subtle interplay of binary and collective effects leads to a profound asymmetry between the two sides of the atomic resonance and provides far bigger coherence loss rates for a condensate bathed in blue detuned light than previously estimated. We present a simplified quantitative model containing the essential physics to explain our experimental data and point at a new experimental route to study strongly coupled light matter systems.
In a comment on arXiv:1006.5070v1, Drechsler et al. present new band-structure calculations suggesting that the frustrated ferromagnetic spin-1/2 chain LiCuVO4 should be described by a strong rather than weak ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interaction, in contradiction with their previous calculations. In our reply, we show that their new results are at odds with the observed magnetic structure, that their analysis of the static susceptibility neglects important contributions, and that their criticism of the spin-wave analysis of the bound-state dispersion is unfounded. We further show that their new exact diagonalization results reinforce our conclusion on the existence of a four-spinon continuum in LiCuVO4, see Enderle et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104 (2010) 237207.
In a comment on arXiv:1006.5070v2, Drechsler et al. claim that the frustrated ferromagnetic spin-1/2 chain LiCuVO4 should be described by a strong rather than weak ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interaction, in contradiction with their previous work. Their comment is based on DMRG and ED calculations of the magnetization curve and the magnetic excitations. We show that their parameters are at odds with the magnetic susceptibility and the magnetic excitation spectrum, once intensities are taken into account, and that the magnetization curve cannot discriminate between largely different parameter sets within experimental uncertainties. We further show that their new exact diagonalization results support the validity of the RPA-approach, and strongly reinforce our conclusion on the existence of a four-spinon continuum in LiCuVO4, see Enderle et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104 (2010) 237207.
We study a highly efficient, matter-wave amplification mechanism in a longitudinally-excited, Bose-Einstein condensate and reveal a very large enhancement due to nonlinear gain from a sixmatter- optical, wave-mixing process involving four photons. Under suitable conditions this opticallydegenerate, four-photon process can be stronger than the usual two-photon inelastic light scattering mechanism, leading to nonlinear growth of the observed matter-wave scattering independent of any enhancement from bosonic stimulation. Our theoretical framework can be extended to encompass even higher-order, nonlinear superradiant processes that result in higher-order momentum transfer.
The polariton, a quasiparticle formed by strong coupling of a photon to a matter excitation, is a fundamental ingredient of emergent photonic quantum systems ranging from semiconductor nanophotonics to circuit quantum electrodynamics. Exploiting the interaction between polaritons has led to the realization of superfluids of light as well as of strongly correlated phases in the microwave domain, with similar efforts underway for microcavity exciton-polaritons. Here, we develop an ultracold-atom analogue of an exciton-polariton system in which interacting polaritonic phases can be studied with full tunability and without dissipation. In our optical-lattice system, the exciton is replaced by an atomic excitation, while an atomic matter wave is substituted for the photon under a strong dynamical coupling. We access the band structure of the matter-wave polariton spectroscopically by coupling the upper and lower polariton branches, and explore polaritonic many-body transport in the superfluid and Mott-insulating regimes, finding quantitative agreement with our theoretical expectations. Our work opens up novel possibilities for studies of polaritonic quantum matter.