No Arabic abstract
Measurement techniques based upon the Hall effect are invaluable tools in condensed matter physics. When an electric current flows perpendicular to a magnetic field, a Hall voltage develops in the direction transverse to both the current and the field. In semiconductors, this behaviour is routinely used to measure the density and charge of the current carriers (electrons in conduction bands or holes in valence bands) -- internal properties of the system that are not accessible from measurements of the conventional resistance. For strongly interacting electron systems, whose behaviour can be very different from the free electron gas, the Hall effects sensitivity to internal properties makes it a powerful tool; indeed, the quantum Hall effects are named after the tool by which they are most distinctly measured instead of the physics from which the phenomena originate. Here we report the first observation of a Hall effect in an ultracold gas of neutral atoms, revealed by measuring a Bose-Einstein condensates transport properties perpendicular to a synthetic magnetic field. Our observations in this vortex-free superfluid are in good agreement with hydrodynamic predictions, demonstrating that the systems global irrotationality influences this superfluid Hall signal.
We observe that the diffusive spin current in a strongly interacting degenerate Fermi gas of $^{40}$K precesses about the local magnetization. As predicted by Leggett and Rice, precession is observed both in the Ramsey phase of a spin-echo sequence, and in the nonlinearity of the magnetization decay. At unitarity, we measure a Leggett-Rice parameter $gamma = 1.08(9)$ and a bare transverse spin diffusivity $D_0^perp = 2.3(4),hbar/m$ for a normal-state gas initialized with full polarization and at one fifth of the Fermi temperature, where $m$ is the atomic mass. One might expect $gamma = 0$ at unitarity, where two-body scattering is purely dissipative. We observe $gamma rightarrow 0$ as temperature is increased towards the Fermi temperature, consistent with calculations that show the degenerate Fermi sea restores a non-zero $gamma$. Tuning the scattering length $a$, we find that a sign change in $gamma$ occurs in the range $0 < (k_F a)^{-1} lesssim 1.3$, where $k_F$ is the Fermi momentum. We discuss how $gamma$ reveals the effective interaction strength of the gas, such that the sign change in $gamma$ indicates a switching of branch, between a repulsive and an attractive Fermi gas.
Chiral edge states are a hallmark of quantum Hall physics. In electronic systems, they appear as a macroscopic consequence of the cyclotron orbits induced by a magnetic field, which are naturally truncated at the physical boundary of the sample. Here we report on the experimental realization of chiral edge states in a ribbon geometry with an ultracold gas of neutral fermions subjected to an artificial gauge field. By imaging individual sites along a synthetic dimension, we detect the existence of the edge states, investigate the onset of chirality as a function of the bulk-edge coupling, and observe the edge-cyclotron orbits induced during a quench dynamics. The realization of fermionic chiral edge states is a fundamental achievement, which opens the door towards experiments including edge state interferometry and the study of non-Abelian anyons in atomic systems.
We present the experimental realization of a long-lived superfluid flow of a quantum gas rotating in an anharmonic potential, sustained by its own angular momentum. The gas is set into motion by rotating an elliptical deformation of the trap. An evaporation selective in angular momentum yields an acceleration of rotation until the density vanishes at the trap center, resulting in a dynamical ring with 350 hbar angular momentum per particle. The density profile of the ring corresponds to the one of a quasi two-dimensional superfluid, with a linear velocity reaching Mach 18 and a rotation lasting more than a minute.
We show that the He-McKellar-Wilkens effect can induce a persistent flow in a Bose-Einstein condensate of polar molecules confined in a toroidal trap, with the dipolar interaction mediated via an electric dipole moment. For Bose-Einstein condensates of atoms with a magnetic dipole moment, we show that although it is theoretically possible to induce persistent flow via the Aharonov-Casher effect, the strength of electric field required is prohibitive. We also outline an experimental geometry tailored specifically for observing the He-McKellar-Wilkens effect in toroidally-trapped condensates.
Atomtronics is an emerging interdisciplinary field that seeks new functionality by creating devices and circuits where ultra-cold atoms, often superfluids, play a role analogous to the electrons in electronics. Hysteresis is widely used in electronic circuits, e.g., it is routinely observed in superconducting circuits and is essential in rf-superconducting quantum interference devices [SQUIDs]. Furthermore, hysteresis is as fundamental to superfluidity (and superconductivity) as quantized persistent currents, critical velocity, and Josephson effects. Nevertheless, in spite of multiple theoretical predictions, hysteresis has not been previously observed in any superfluid, atomic-gas Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). Here we demonstrate hysteresis in a quantized atomtronic circuit: a ring of superfluid BEC obstructed by a rotating weak link. We directly detect hysteresis between quantized circulation states, in contrast to superfluid liquid helium experiments that observed hysteresis directly in systems where the quantization of flow could not be observed and indirectly in systems that showed quantized flow. Our techniques allow us to tune the size of the hysteresis loop and to consider the fundamental excitations that accompany hysteresis. The results suggest that the relevant excitations involved in hysteresis are vortices and indicate that dissipation plays an important role in the dynamics. Controlled hysteresis in atomtronic circuits may prove to be a crucial feature for the development of practical devices, just as it has in electronic circuits like memory, digital noise filters (e.g., Schmitt triggers), and magnetometers (e.g., SQUIDs).