A spin-orbit coupled two-dimensional (2D) Bose gas is shown to simultaneously possess quasi and true long-range order in the total and relative phase sectors, respectively. The total phase undergoes a Berenzinskii- Kosterlitz-Thouless transition to a
low temperature phase with quasi long-range order, as expected for a two- dimensional quantum gas. Additionally, the relative phase undergoes an Ising-type transition building up true long-range order, which is induced by the anisotropic spin-orbit coupling. Based on the Bogoliubov approach, expressions for the total- and relative-phase fluctuations are derived analytically for the low temperature regime. Numerical simulations of the stochastic projected Gross-Pitaevskii equation (SPGPE) give a good agreement with the analytical predictions.
We explore a new way of producing the Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) for ultracold atoms by using a two-component (spinor) atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) confined in a bilayer geometry. The SOC of the Rashba type is created if the atoms pick
up a {pi} phase after completing a cyclic transition between four combined spin-layer states composed of two spin and two layer states. The cyclic coupling of the spin-layer states is carried out by combining an intralayer Raman coupling and an interlayer laser assisted tunneling. We theoretically determine the ground-state phases of the spin-orbit-coupled BEC for various strengths of the atom-atom interaction and the laser-assisted coupling. It is shown that the bilayer scheme provides a diverse ground-state phase diagram. In an intermediate range of the atom-light coupling two interlacing lattices of half- skyrmions and half-antiskyrmions are spontaneously created. In the strong-coupling regime, where the SOC of the Rashba-type is formed, the ground state represents plane-wave or standing-wave phases depending on the interaction between the atoms. A variational analysis is shown to be in a good agreement with the numerical results.
Cavity quantum electrodynamics (CQED) plays an elegant role of studying strong coupling between light and matter. However, a non-mechanical, direct and dynamical control of the used mirrors is still unavailable. Here we theoretically investigate a no
vel type of dynamically controllable cavity composed of two atomic mirrors. Based on the electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), the reflectance of atomic mirror is highly controllable through its dispersive properties by varying the intensity of applied coupling fields or the optical depth of atomic media. To demonstrate the uniqueness of the present cavity, we further show the possibility of manipulating vacuum-induced diffraction of a binary Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) when loading it into a dispersive cavity and experiencing superradiant scatterings. Our results may provide a novel all-optical element for atom optics and shine new light on controlling light-matter interaction.
Long-lived, spatially localized, and temporally oscillating nonlinear excitations are predicted by numerical simulation of coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations. These oscillons closely resemble the time-periodic breather solutions of the sine-Gordon eq
uation but decay slowly by radiating Bogoliubov phonons. Their time-dependent profile is closely matched with solutions of the sine-Gordon equation, which emerges as an effective field theory for the relative phase of two linearly coupled Bose fields in the weak-coupling limit. For strong coupling the long-lived oscillons persist and involve both relative and total phase fields. The oscillons decay via Bogoliubov phonon radiation that is increasingly suppressed for decreasing oscillon amplitude. Possibilities for creating oscillons are addressed in atomic gas experiments by collision of oppositely charged Bose-Josephson vortices and direct phase imprinting.
Atomic Bose-Einstein condensates confined to a dual-ring trap support Josephson vortices as topologically stable defects in the relative phase. We propose a test of the scaling laws for defect formation by quenching a Bose gas to degeneracy in this g
eometry. Stochastic Gross-Pitaevskii simulations reveal a -1/4 power-law scaling of defect number with quench time for fast quenches, consistent with the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. Slow quenches show stronger quench-time dependence that is explained by the stability properties of Josephson vortices, revealing the boundary of the Kibble-Zurek regime. Interference of the two atomic fields enables clear long-time measurement of stable defects, and a direct test of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism in Bose-Einstein condensation.
The non-equilibrium dynamics of a rapidly quenched spin-1 Bose gas with spin-orbit coupling is studied. By solving the stochastic projected Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we show that crystallization of merons can occur in a spinor condensate of ^{87}Rb.
Analytic form and stability of the crystal structure are given. Likewise, inverted merons can be created in a spin-polarized spinor condensate of ^{23}Na. Our studies provide a chance to explore the fundamental properties of meron-like matter.
We model the effects of atomic thermal motion on the propagation of a light pulse in an electromagnetically induced transparency medium by introducing a set of effectively temperature-dependent parameters, including the Rabi frequency of the coupling
field, optical density and relaxation rate of the ground state coherence, into the governing equations. The validity of this effective theory is verified by the close agreement between the theoretical results and the experimental data.
We investigate the spontaneous generation of crystallized topological defects via the combining effects of fast rotation and rapid thermal quench on the spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensates. By solving the stochastic projected Gross-Pitaevskii equation,
we show that, when the system reaches equilibrium, a hexagonal lattice of skyrmions, and a square lattice of half-quantized vortices can be formed in a ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic spinor BEC, respetively, which can be imaged by using the polarization-dependent phase-contrast method.
We present a numerical scheme to study the dynamics of slow light and light storage in an electromagneticallyinduced- transparency (EIT) medium at finite temperatures. Allowing for the motional coupling, we derive a set of coupled Schr{o}dinger equat
ions describing a boosted closed three-level EIT system according to the principle of Galilean relativity. The dynamics of a uniformly moving EIT medium can thus be determined by numerically integrating the coupled Schrodinger equations for atoms plus one ancillary Maxwell-Schrodinger equation for the probe pulse. The central idea of this work rests on the assumption that the loss of ground-state coherence at finite temperatures can be ascribed to the incoherent superposition of density matrices representing the EIT systems with various velocities. Close agreements are demonstrated in comparing the numerical results with the experimental data for both slow light and light storage. In particular, the distinct characters featuring the decay of ground-state coherence can be well verified for slow light and light storage. This warrants that the current scheme can be applied to determine the decaying profile of the ground-state coherence as well as the temperature of the EIT medium.
