Biblioteca Digital

Low-dimensional systems in condensed matter physics exhibit a rich array of correlated electronic phases. One-dimensional systems stand out in this regard. Electrons cannot avoid each other in 1D, enhancing the effects of interactions. The resulting correlations leave distinct spatial imprints on the electronic density that can be imaged with scanning probes. Disorder, however, can destroy these delicate interacting states by breaking up the electron liquid into localized pieces. Thus, to generate fragile interacting quantum states, one requires an extremely clean system in which disorder does not overcome interactions, as well as a high degree of tunability to design potential landscapes. Furthermore, to directly measure the resulting spatial correlations, one requires an exceptionally sensitive scanning probe, but the most sensitive probes presently available are also invasive, perturbing the system and screening electron-electron interactions.; Engineering and Applied Sciences

We present a novel quantum stochastic evolution equation for a matter field describing the canonical state of a weakly interacting ultracold Bose gas. In the ideal gas limit our approach is exact. This numerically very stable equation suppresses high-energy fluctuations exponentially, which enables us to describe condensed and thermal atoms within the same formalism. We present applications to ground state occupation and fluctuations, density profile of ground state and thermal cloud, and ground state number statistics. Our main aim are spatial coherence properties which we investigate through the determination of interference contrast and spatial density correlations. Parameters are taken from actual experiments [1]. [1] S. Hofferberth et al., Nature Physics 4, 489 (2008).; Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures

Recently, the fundamental and nanoscale understanding of complex phenomena in materials research and the life sciences, witnessed considerable progress. However, elucidating the underlying mechanisms, governed by entangled degrees of freedom such as lattice, spin, orbit, and charge for solids or conformation, electric potentials, and ligands for proteins, has remained challenging. Techniques that allow for distinguishing between different contributions to these processes are hence urgently required. In this paper we demonstrate the application of scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) as a novel type of nano-probe for tracking transient states of matter. We introduce a sideband-demodulation technique that allows for probing exclusively the stimuli-induced change of near-field optical properties. We exemplify this development by inspecting the decay of an electron-hole plasma generated in SiGe thin films through near-infrared laser pulses. Our approach can universally be applied to optically track ultrafast/-slow processes over the whole spectral range from UV to THz frequencies.

The orbital magnetic moment of a finite piece of matter is expressed in terms of the one-body density matrix as a simple trace. We address a macroscopic system, insulating in the bulk, and we show that its orbital moment is the sum of a bulk term and a surface term, both extensive. The latter only occurs when the transverse conductivity is nonzero and owes to conducting surface states. Simulations on a model Hamiltonian validate our theory; its relationships with the known $\bf{k}$-space formulas for crystalline insulators are also discussed.

(Abridged) Extensions of the standard model of particle physics predict very light bosons, ranging from about 10^{-5} eV for the QCD axion to 10^{-33} eV for ultra-light particles, which could be the cold dark matter (CDM) in the Universe. If so, their phase-space density must be high enough to form a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). The fluid-like nature of BEC-CDM dynamics differs from that of standard collisionless CDM (sCDM), so observations of galactic haloes may distinguish them. sCDM has problems with galaxy observations on small scales, which BEC-CDM may overcome for a large range of particle mass m and self-interaction strength g. For quantum-coherence on galactic scales of radius R and mass M, either the de-Broglie wavelength lambda_deB <~ R, requiring m >~ m_H \cong 10^{-25}(R/100 kpc)^{-1/2}(M/10^{12} M_solar)^{-1/2} eV, or else lambda_deB << R but self-interaction balances gravity, requiring m >> m_H and g >> g_H \cong 2 x 10^{-64} (R/100 kpc)(M/10^{12} M_solar)^{-1} eV cm^3. Here we study the largely-neglected effects of angular momentum. Spin parameters lambda \cong 0.05 are expected from tidal-torquing by large-scale structure, just as for sCDM. Since lab BECs develop quantum vortices if rotated rapidly enough, we ask if this angular momentum is sufficient to form vortices in BEC haloes...

Collisional damping of the excitations in a Bose-condensed gas is investigated over the wide range of energies and temperatures. Numerical results for the damping rate are presented and a number of asymptotic and interpolating expressions for it are derived.; Comment: RevTeX3.0 + 3 figures in a single PS file, submitted to PRL

The dense vortex matter structure and associated magnetization are calculated for type-II superconducting mesoscopic disks. The magnetization exhibits generically first-order phase transitions as the number of vortices changes by one and presents two well-defined regimes: A non-monotonous evolution of the magnitude of the magnetization jumps signals the presence of a vortex glass structure which is separated by a second-order phase transition at $H_{c2}$ from a condensed state of vortices (giant vortex) where the magnitude of the jumps changes monotonously. We compare our results with Hall magnetometry measurements by Geim et al. (Nature 390, 259 (1997)) and claim that the magnetization exhibits clear traces of the presence of these vortex glass states.; Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures

We investigate the quantum tunneling of a Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a optical trap. We show that periodic pulses of coherent matter are emitted from the trap by using an oscillating energy barrier. Moreover, the emitted fraction of condensed atoms strongly increases if the period of oscillation of the height of the energy barrier is in parametric resonance with the period of oscillation of the center of mass of the condensate inside the potential well. Our model is analyzed by numerically solving the nonpolynomial Schrodinger equation (NPSE), an effective one-dimensional equation which describes the macroscopic wavefunction of Bose condensates under transverse harmonic confinement. The range of validity of NPSE is discussed and compared with that of Gross-Pitaevskii equation.; Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, presented to the 'Laser Physics Workshop 2002', seminar on 'Bose-Einstein Condensation of Trapped Atoms', Bratislava, July 2002, to be published in Laser Physics; related papers can be found at http://www.mi.infm.it/salasnich/tdqg.html

We show that a correct formulation of the cold collision frequency shift for two photon spectroscopy of Bose-condensed and cold non-Bose-condensed hydrogen is consistent with experimental data. Our treatment includes transport and inhomogeneity into the theory of a non-condensed gas, which causes substantial changes in the cold collision frequency shift for the ordinary thermal gas, as a result of the very high frequency (3.9kHz) of transverse trap mode. For the condensed gas, we find substantial corrections arise from the inclusion of quasiparticles, whose number is very large because of the very low frequency (10.2Hz) of the longitudinal trap mode. These two effects together account for the apparent absence of a "factor of two" between the two possibilities. Our treatment considers only the Doppler-free measurements, but could be extended to Doppler-sensitive measurements. For Bose-condensed hydrogen, we predict a characteristic "foot" extending into higher detunings than can arise from the condensate alone, as a result of a correct treatment of the statistics of thermal quasiparticles.; Comment: 16 page J Phys B format plus 6 postscript figures

We present a pedagogical overview of recent theoretical work on unconventional quantum phases and quantum phase transitions in condensed matter systems. Strong correlations between electrons can lead to a breakdown of two traditional paradigms of solid state physics: Landau's theories of Fermi liquids and phase transitions. We discuss two resulting "exotic" states of matter: topological and critical spin liquids. These two quantum phases do not display any long-range order even at zero temperature. In each case, we show how a gauge theory description is useful to describe the new concepts of topological order, fractionalization and deconfinement of excitations which can be present in such spin liquids. We make brief connections, when possible, to experiments in which the corresponding physics can be probed. Finally, we review recent work on deconfined quantum critical points. The tone of these lecture notes is expository: focus is on gaining a physical picture and understanding, with technical details kept to a minimum.; Comment: 22 pages, 15 figures; Notes of the Lectures at the International Summer School on Fundamental Problems in Statistical Physics XI, September 2005, Leuven, Belgium; High-resolution version available at http://w3-phystheo.ups-tlse.fr/~alet/leuven.html

We calculate the neutron matter equation of state at finite temperature based on low-momentum two- and three-nucleon interactions. The free energy is obtained from a loop expansion around the Hartree-Fock energy, including contributions from normal and anomalous diagrams. We focus on densities below saturation density with temperatures T <= 10 MeV and compare our results to the model-independent virial equation of state and to variational calculations. Good agreement with the virial equation of state is found at low density. We provide simple estimates for the theoretical error, important for extrapolations to astrophysical conditions.; Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures

We analyze the optomechanics-like properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) trapped inside an optical resonator and driven by both a classical and a quantized light field. We find that this system exhibits a nature of role reversal between the matter-wave field and the quantized light field. As a result, the matter wave field now plays the role of the quantized light field, and the quantized light field behaves like a movable mirror, in contrast to the familiar situation in BEC-based cavity optomechanics [Brennecke et al., Science 322, 235 (2008); Murch et al., Nat. Phys. 4, 561 (2008)]. We demonstrate that this system can lead to the creation of a variety of nonclassical matter-wave fields, in particular cat states, and discuss several possible protocols to measure their Wigner function.

The many-body system comprising a He nucleus, three electrons, and a positron has been studied using the exact diagonalization technique. The purpose has been to clarify to which extent the system can be considered as a distinguishable positronium (Ps) atom interacting with a He atom and, thereby, to pave the way to a practical atomistic modeling of Ps states and annihilation in matter. The maximum value of the distance between the positron and the nucleus is constrained and the Ps atom at different distances from the nucleus is identified from the electron and positron densities, as well as from the electron-positron distance and center-of-mass distributions. The polarization of the Ps atom increases as its distance from the nucleus decreases. A depletion of the He electron density, particularly large at low density values, has been observed. The ortho-Ps pick-off annihilation rate calculated as the overlap of the positron and the free He electron densities has to be corrected for the observed depletion, specially at large pores/voids.; Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures

Heat capacity of B2O3 glass former in a wide temperature region is described well with the intrinsic motions for non-spherical B2O3 molecules, revealing that rather than a conventional network glass former, B2O3 is a typical molecular matter in which the transition from liquid to glass in the system corresponds to the frozen of translational motions for molecules. The finding might provide an opportunity to understand the mysterious glass transition, as well as the intrinsic difference between solids and liquids.; Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures

The density, spin and isospin correlation functions in nuclear matter with a neutron-proton ($np$) condensate are calculated to study the possible signatures of the BEC-BCS crossover in the low-density region. It is shown that the criterion of the crossover (Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 95}, 090402 (2005)), consisting in the change of the sign of the density correlation function at low momentum transfer, fails to describe correctly the density-driven BEC-BCS transition at finite isospin asymmetry or finite temperature. As an unambiguous signature of the BEC-BCS transition, there can be used the presence (BCS regime) or absence (BEC regime) of the singularity in the momentum distribution of the quasiparticle density of states.; Comment: Prepared with RevTeX4, 5p., 4 figures

We investigate the phase structure of homogeneous and inhomogeneous neutron-proton condensate in isospin asymmetric nuclear matter. At extremely low nuclear density the condensed matter is in homogeneous phase at any temperature, while in general case it is in Larkin-Ovchinnikov-Fulde -Ferrell phase at low temperature. In comparison with the homogeneous superfluid, the inhomogeneous superfluid can survive at higher nuclear density and higher isospin asymmetry.; Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, arguments and Fig.2 changed, references added

We suggest to view ultracold atoms in a time-periodically shifted optical lattice as a "dressed matter wave", analogous to a dressed atom in an electromagnetic field. A possible effect lending support to this concept is a transition of ultracold bosonic atoms from a superfluid to a Mott-insulating state in response to appropriate "dressing" achieved through time-periodic lattice modulation. In order to observe this effect in a laboratory experiment, one has to identify conditions allowing for effectively adiabatic motion of a many-body Floquet state.; Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, to be published in: J. Phys.: Conference Series

Matter-wave bright solitons are predicted to reflect from a purely attractive potential well although they are macroscopic objects with classical particle-like properties. The non-classical reflection occurs at small velocities and a pronounced switching to almost perfect transmission above a critical velocity is found, caused by nonlinear mean-field interactions. Full numerical results from the nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation are complimented by a two-mode variational calculation to explain the predicted effect, which can be used for velocity filtering of solitons. The experimental realization with laser-induced potentials or two-component Bose-Einstein condensates is suggested.; Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Europhys. Lett

The interplay of magnetism and unconventional superconductivity (d singlet wave or p triplet wave) in strongly correlated electronic system (SCES) is discussed with recent examples found in heavy fermion compounds. A short presentation is given on the formation of the heavy quasiparticle with the two sources of a local and intersite enhancement for the effective mass. Two cases of the coexistence or repulsion of antiferromagnetism and superconductivity are given with CeIn3 and CeCoIn5. A spectacular example is the emergence of superconductivity in relatively strong itinerant ferromagnets UGe2 and URhGe. The impact of heavy fermion matter among other SCES as organic conductor or high Tc oxide is briefly pointed out.; Comment: 22pages, 15 figures

A dressed state approach to mixing of bosonic matter waves is presented. Two cases are studied using this formalism. In the first, two macroscopically populated modes of atoms (two-wave mixing) are coupled through the presence of light. In the second case, three modes of Bogoliubov quasiparticles (three-wave mixing) are coupled through s-wave interaction. In both cases wave mixing induces oscillations in the population of the different modes that decay due to interactions. Analytic expressions for the dressed basis spectrum and the evolution of the mode populations in time are derived both for resonant mixing and non-resonant mixing. Oscillations in the population of a given mode are shown to lead to a splitting in the decay spectrum of that mode, in analogy to the optical Autler-Townes splitting in the decay spectrum of a strongly driven atom. These effects cannot be described by a mean-field approximation.; Comment: 20 pages, 18 figures