Stefan S. Natu

We explore the out-of-equilibrium temporal dynamics of demixing and phase separation in a two dimensional binary Bose fluid at zero temperature, following a sudden quench across the miscible-immiscible phase boundary. On short timescales, the system rapidly settles into a steady state characterized by short-range correlations in the relative density. The subsequent dynamics is extremely slow: domains of the relative density appear to grow with time, however, the rate of growth is much slower than that predicted by conventional theories of phase ordering kinetics. Moreover, we find that the growth dynamics slows down with increasing time, and is consistent with logarithmic growth. Our study sheds light on ongoing investigations of how isolated quantum systems approach equilibrium, and indicates that studying the quantum phase diagram of the binary Bose fluids following a quench, may be difficult due to equilibration problems.

We calculate the dynamics of one- and two-body correlation functions in a homogeneous Bose gas at zero temperature following a sudden change in the interaction strength, in the continuum and in a lattice. By choosing suitable examples, we highlight features in the correlation functions that emerge due to the interactions and the band structure. We find that interactions dramatically change the way correlations build up and subsequently decay following a quench. For example, the Bogoliubov dispersion induces a crossover from diffusive spreading of short-range correlations to ballistic spreading of longer-range correlations. In the lattice, the correlation functions develop additional features absent in the continuum. Most strikingly, the lattice induces an additional velocity scale and some features propagate with that velocity. Finally, we discuss the ultra-short-range properties of the density-density correlation function following a quench, and the implications for experiments using this quantity to probe the “contact.” Our calculations, which can be readily tested in current experiments, suggest that the dynamics of correlations may be a useful tool for extracting many-body parameters.

By combining experiments and numerical simulations, we investigate the redistribution of quasimomentum in a gas of atoms trapped in an optical lattice when the lattice depth is rapidly reduced. We find that interactions lead to significant momentum redistribution on millisecond time scales, thereby invalidating previous assumptions regarding adiabaticity. Our results indicate band mapping is an inaccurate probe of the equilibrium quasimomentum distributions of interacting bosons in the single-band regime.

Combining experiments and numerical simulations, we investigate the redistribution of quasi-momentum in a gas of atoms trapped in an optical lattice when the lattice depth is rapidly reduced. We find that interactions lead to significant momentum redistribution on millisecond timescales, thereby invalidating previous assumptions regarding adiabaticity. We show that this phenomenon is driven by the presence of low-momentum particle-hole excitations in an interacting system. Our results invalidate bandmapping as an equilibrium probe in interacting gases.

We theoretically study the stability of a normal, spin disordered, homogenous spin-1 Bose gas against ferromagnetism, pairing, and condensation through a Random Phase Approximation which includes exchange (RPA-X). Repulsive spin-independent interactions stabilize the normal state against both ferromagnetism and pairing, and for typical interaction strengths leads to a direct transition from an unordered normal state to a fully ordered single particle condensate. Atoms with much larger spin-dependent interaction may experience a transition to a ferromagnetic normal state or a paired superfluid, but, within the RPA-X, there is no instability towards a normal state with spontaneous nematic order. We analyze the role of the quadratic Zeeman effect and finite system size.

We study the response of trapped two dimensional cold bosons to time dependent lattices. We find that in lattice ramps from 11 (superfluid, $\hbar/U_{\text{i}} = 3$ms, $\hbar/J_{\text{i}} = 45$ms) to 16 recoils (Mott, $\hbar/U_{\text{f}} = 2$ms, $\hbar/J_{\text{f}} = 130$ms) the local number fluctuations remains at their equilibrium values if ramps are slower than 3 ms. Global transport, however, is much slower (1s), especially in the presence of Mott shells. This separation of timescales has practical implications for cold atom experiments and cooling protocols.

We model the dynamics of two species of bosonic atoms trapped in an optical lattice within the Mott regime by mapping the system onto a spin model. A field gradient breaks the cloud into two domains. We study how the domain wall evolves under adiabatic and diabatic changes of this gradient. We determine the time scales for adiabaticity and study how temperature evolves for slow ramps. We show that after large, sudden changes of the field gradient, the system does not equilibrate on typical experimental time scales. We find interesting spin dynamics even when the initial temperature is large compared to the superexchange energy. We discuss the implication of our results for researchers wishing to use such a two-component system for thermometry or as part of a cooling scheme. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.82.013612 © 2010 The American Physical Society

We model the dynamics of two species of bosonic atoms trapped in an optical lattice within the Mott regime by mapping the system onto a spin model. A field gradient breaks the cloud into two domains. We study how the domain wall evolves under adiabatic and diabatic changes of this gradient. We determine the timescales for adiabaticity, and study how temperature evolves for slow ramps. We show that after large, sudden changes of the field gradient, the system does not equilibrate on typical experimental timescales. We find interesting spin dynamics even when the initial temperature is large compared to the super-exchange energy. We discuss the implication of our results for experiments wishing to use such a two-component system for thermometry, or as part of a cooling scheme.