Bose-Einstein condensation of atomic gases

The early experiments on Bose-Einstein condensation in dilute atomic gases accomplished three long-standing goals. First, cooling of neutral atoms into their motional ground state, thus subjecting them to ultimate control, limited only by Heisenberg's uncertainty relation. Second, creation of a coherent sample of atoms, in which all occupy the same quantum state, and the realization of atom lasers - devices that output coherent matter waves. And third, creation of a gaseous quantum fluid, with properties that are different from the quantum liquids helium-3 and helium-4. The field of Bose-Einstein condensation of atomic gases has continued to progress rapidly, driven by the combination of new experimental techniques and theoretical advances. The family of quantum-degenerate gases has grown, and now includes metastable and fermionic atoms. Condensates have become an ultralow-temperature laboratory for atom optics, collisional physics and many-body physics, encompassing phonons, superfluidity, quantized vortices, Josephson junctions and quantum phase transitions.     

Bose-Einstein condensation on a microelectronic chip

Although Bose-Einstein condensates of ultracold atoms have been experimentally realizable for several years, their formation and manipulation still impose considerable technical challenges. An all-optical technique that enables faster production of Bose-Einstein condensates was recently reported. Here we demonstrate that the formation of a condensate can be greatly simplified using a microscopic magnetic trap on a chip. We achieve Bose-Einstein condensation inside the single vapour cell of a magneto-optical trap in as little as 700 ms-more than a factor of ten faster than typical experiments, and a factor of three faster than the all-optical technique. A coherent matter wave is emitted normal to the chip surface when the trapped atoms are released into free fall; alternatively, we couple the condensate into an 'atomic conveyor belt', which is used to transport the condensed cloud non-destructively over a macroscopic distance parallel to the chip surface. The possibility of manipulating laser-like coherent matter waves with such an integrated atom-optical system holds promise for applications in interferometry, holography, microscopy, atom lithography and quantum information processing.     

Towards Bose-Einstein condensation of excitons in potential traps

An exciton is an electron-hole bound pair in a semiconductor. In the low-density limit, it is a composite Bose quasi-particle, akin to the hydrogen atom. Just as in dilute atomic gases, reducing the temperature or increasing the exciton density increases the occupation numbers of the low-energy states leading to quantum degeneracy and eventually to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC). Because the exciton mass is small--even smaller than the free electron mass--exciton BEC should occur at temperatures of about 1 K, many orders of magnitude higher than for atoms. However, it is in practice difficult to reach BEC conditions, as the temperature of excitons can considerably exceed that of the semiconductor lattice. The search for exciton BEC has concentrated on long-lived excitons: the exciton lifetime against electron-hole recombination therefore should exceed the characteristic timescale for the cooling of initially hot photo-generated excitons. Until now, all experiments on atom condensation were performed on atomic gases confined in the potential traps. Inspired by these experiments, and using specially designed semiconductor nanostructures, we have collected quasi-two-dimensional excitons in an in-plane potential trap. Our photoluminescence measurements show that the quasi-two-dimensional excitons indeed condense at the bottom of the traps, giving rise to a statistically degenerate Bose gas.     

Bose-Einstein condensation of excitons in bilayer electron systems

An exciton is the particle-like entity that forms when an electron is bound to a positively charged 'hole'. An ordered electronic state in which excitons condense into a single quantum state was proposed as a theoretical possibility many years ago. We review recent studies of semiconductor bilayer systems that provide clear evidence for this phenomenon and explain why exciton condensation in the quantum Hall regime, where these experiments were performed, is as likely to occur in electron-electron bilayers as in electron-hole bilayers. In current quantum Hall excitonic condensates, disorder induces mobile vortices that flow in response to a supercurrent and limit the extremely large bilayer counterflow conductivity.     

Bose-Einstein condensation of photons in an optical microcavity

Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC)-the macroscopic ground-state accumulation of particles with integer spin (bosons) at low temperature and high density-has been observed in several physical systems, including cold atomic gases and solid-state quasiparticles. However, the most omnipresent Bose gas, blackbody radiation (radiation in thermal equilibrium with the cavity walls) does not show this phase transition. In such systems photons have a vanishing chemical potential, meaning that their number is not conserved when the temperature of the photon gas is varied; at low temperatures, photons disappear in the cavity walls instead of occupying the cavity ground state. Theoretical works have considered thermalization processes that conserve photon number (a prerequisite for BEC), involving Compton scattering with a gas of thermal electrons or photon-photon scattering in a nonlinear resonator configuration. Number-conserving thermalization was experimentally observed for a two-dimensional photon gas in a dye-filled optical microcavity, which acts as a 'white-wall' box. Here we report the observation of a Bose-Einstein condensate of photons in this system. The cavity mirrors provide both a confining potential and a non-vanishing effective photon mass, making the system formally equivalent to a two-dimensional gas of trapped, massive bosons. The photons thermalize to the temperature of the dye solution (room temperature) by multiple scattering with the dye molecules. Upon increasing the photon density, we observe the following BEC signatures: the photon energies have a Bose-Einstein distribution with a massively populated ground-state mode on top of a broad thermal wing; the phase transition occurs at the expected photon density and exhibits the predicted dependence on cavity geometry; and the ground-state mode emerges even for a spatially displaced pump spot. The prospects of the observed effects include studies of extremely weakly interacting low-dimensional Bose gases and new coherent ultraviolet sources.     

谐振势阱中有限粒子玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚的数值计算

从统计力学原理出发,用数值方法研究了三维等方谐振势阱中有限粒子数玻色子系统的化学势及其导数随温度的变化．结果表明,粒子数有限的系统没有一级相变,但在有限温度发生玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚;利用化学势二阶导数的极小值定义的玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚临界温度很好地符合实验结果．     

Bose-Einstein condensation of quasi-equilibrium magnons at room temperature under pumping

Bose-Einstein condensation is one of the most fascinating phenomena predicted by quantum mechanics. It involves the formation of a collective quantum state composed of identical particles with integer angular momentum (bosons), if the particle density exceeds a critical value. To achieve Bose-Einstein condensation, one can either decrease the temperature or increase the density of bosons. It has been predicted that a quasi-equilibrium system of bosons could undergo Bose-Einstein condensation even at relatively high temperatures, if the flow rate of energy pumped into the system exceeds a critical value. Here we report the observation of Bose-Einstein condensation in a gas of magnons at room temperature. Magnons are the quanta of magnetic excitations in a magnetically ordered ensemble of magnetic moments. In thermal equilibrium, they can be described by Bose-Einstein statistics with zero chemical potential and a temperature-dependent density. In the experiments presented here, we show that by using a technique of microwave pumping it is possible to excite additional magnons and to create a gas of quasi-equilibrium magnons with a non-zero chemical potential. With increasing pumping intensity, the chemical potential reaches the energy of the lowest magnon state, and a Bose condensate of magnons is formed.     

2001年度诺贝尔物理学奖与玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚

简要介绍了2001年度诺贝尔物理学奖及其获得者--埃里克·科内尔,卡尔·维曼与沃尔夫冈·克特勒的有关研究工作;评述了玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚的实现及其应用.     

Bose-Einstein condensation of the triplet states in the magnetic insulator TlCuCl3

Bose-Einstein condensation denotes the formation of a collective quantum ground state of identical particles with integer spin or intrinsic angular momentum. In magnetic insulators, the magnetic properties are due to the unpaired shell electrons that have half-integer spin. However, in some such compounds (KCuCl3 and TlCuCl3), two Cu2+ ions are antiferromagnetically coupled to form a dimer in a crystalline network: the dimer ground state is a spin singlet (total spin zero), separated by an energy gap from the excited triplet state (total spin one). In these dimer compounds, Bose-Einstein condensation becomes theoretically possible. At a critical external magnetic field, the energy of one of the Zeeman split triplet components (a type of boson) intersects the ground-state singlet, resulting in long-range magnetic order; this transition represents a quantum critical point at which Bose-Einstein condensation occurs. Here we report an experimental investigation of the excitation spectrum in such a field-induced magnetically ordered state, using inelastic neutron scattering measurements of TlCuCl3 single crystals. We verify unambiguously the theoretically predicted gapless Goldstone mode characteristic of the Bose-Einstein condensation of the triplet states.     

表面激子极化激元的定域化

在存在着随机粗糙和空间色散时，利用了一个数字模型研究表面激子极化激元的定域化．发现定域化出现在表面激子极化激元的最大频率附近，在广延态上的衰减长度大于定域态上的衰减长度，表面激子极化激元的定域化是受到粗糙表面散射波的毁灭性干涉所引起的．     

Spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates

Spin-orbit (SO) coupling--the interaction between a quantum particle's spin and its momentum--is ubiquitous in physical systems. In condensed matter systems, SO coupling is crucial for the spin-Hall effect and topological insulators; it contributes to the electronic properties of materials such as GaAs, and is important for spintronic devices. Quantum many-body systems of ultracold atoms can be precisely controlled experimentally, and would therefore seem to provide an ideal platform on which to study SO coupling. Although an atom's intrinsic SO coupling affects its electronic structure, it does not lead to coupling between the spin and the centre-of-mass motion of the atom. Here, we engineer SO coupling (with equal Rashba and Dresselhaus strengths) in a neutral atomic Bose-Einstein condensate by dressing two atomic spin states with a pair of lasers. Such coupling has not been realized previously for ultracold atomic gases, or indeed any bosonic system. Furthermore, in the presence of the laser coupling, the interactions between the two dressed atomic spin states are modified, driving a quantum phase transition from a spatially spin-mixed state (lasers off) to a phase-separated state (above a critical laser intensity). We develop a many-body theory that provides quantitative agreement with the observed location of the transition. The engineered SO coupling--equally applicable for bosons and fermions--sets the stage for the realization of topological insulators in fermionic neutral atom systems.     

玻色—爱因斯坦凝聚状态下的轴子:一种新的冷暗物质模型

最近的研究表明冷轴子在宇宙背景辐射光子温度低于T～100 eV(f/1012GeV)1/2后可以达到热平衡状态,由此将形成冷轴子的玻色—爱因斯坦凝聚。文章同时对轴子凝聚和普通冷暗物质模型的区别进行了探讨。     

吸引玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚的坍塌性质

研究描述吸引玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚的Gross-Pitaevskii(GP)方程,在数学上又称为带调和势的非线性Schr(o)dinger方程iФi=-1/2△Ф+1/2|x|2φ-a|φ|qФ-b|φ|pФ,这里a,b＞0是定参数,1＜q＜p＜n+2/n-2,n＞2.参考R.T.Glassey(J Math Phys,1977,181794～1797.)的结果,运用能量方法得到了方程在高维空间中的坍塌性质.     

玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体的光学色散关系

最近的研究表明,玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体(Bose-Einstein Condensate, BEC)可作为量子电介质材料对光场产生反作用,实现光场-物质波的协同操控.然而BEC的色散性质还没有被研究.为此,解析得到了BEC对大失谐光的一阶色散和二阶色散的计算公式.数值计算表明, BEC的折射率以及二阶色散系数与红、蓝失谐的性质有关:在红失谐时,折射率大于1,且二阶色散是正常色散;在蓝失谐时,折射率小于1,二阶色散为反常色散.二阶色散系数会随着失谐量的改变而剧烈变化,当失谐量在GHz数量级时,表现为强色散介质.一阶色散和红、蓝失谐的性质关系不大,随着失谐量的增加,一阶色散减小,相应的群速度增加.因此,对于超短脉冲光, BEC是一种新型的色散介质.     

玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚中的色散关系

超流性是玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚宏观量子效应的重要体现,分别用运动方程法和哈密顿量对角化方法,通过傅里叶变换导出了玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚超流体的色散关系,并给出了凝聚体中声子速度的表达式.结果表明,在长波极限下,色散关系与波数近似成线性关系.     

激子极化激元光子学研究进展

研究光与物质相互作用是腔量子电动力学的一个重要方向.早在20世纪50年代,黄昆先生就提出了固体环境中的光子与晶格连续作用的时间演化图像,并指出光子-声子时间上连续不断的相互转化会在物质中形成声子极化激元波,从理论上计算了声子极化激元波的色散关系.Hopfield把这种图像推广到半导体环境中的光子-激子作用上.随后人们在微腔中实现了单原子、单量子点激子的真空拉比振荡.随着半导体微腔生长和微纳加工工艺的提高,激子极化激元的凝聚、超流、涡旋等宏观量子态被实验证明.通过控制微腔结构和光场调控的手段,人们进一步实现了对宏观量子态的相干调控.有机半导体、钙钛矿、二维半导体等新材料体系展现了极大的激子束缚能,有望实现室温量子器件的制备.微腔激子极化激元的研究进入了黄金时代.本文首先从激子极化激元的基本图像入手,详细介绍激子极化激元的概念、色散关系以及常见的激子极化激元体系.其次,总结了研究微腔激子极化激元的材料体系和实验方法,详细介绍了平板微腔和微纳材料自构型微腔的工作原理和具体实例,以及共焦显微荧光光谱和角分辨荧光光谱.第三,对激子极化激元的量子调控进行了总结.详细介绍了激子极化激元的重要宏观量子态以及通过微纳加工和光场调控的方式对宏观量子态的操控.具体分析了两个量子态操控的实例,包括氧化锌超晶格中多重量子态的制备以及凝聚体的参量散射过程.第四,对新型材料中激子极化激元的研究进行了总结,包括二维半导体、有机半导体和钙钛矿.最后,对本文进行总结,并且从理论、实验的角度分别预测了该领域的发展趋势.     

碟形玻色凝聚体满足的G-P方程

通过赝势法得到处于简谐势阱中的玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体的能量平均值,并利用凝聚体的能量平均值,给出了碟形玻色凝聚体系中的玻色子所满足的含时的非线性薛定谔方程。     

偶极玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体的稳定性分析

利用变分法,在给出三维简谐势阱的频率方位比后,考察处于该势阱中的偶极BEC凝聚体,我们发现偶极玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚体的稳定性由势阱的频率方位比、s-波散射长度、偶极相互作用强度和粒子数目等因素共同决定,当合适的参量给定后,NLSE总有亮孤子解存在,并可得到稳态与非稳态间的临界线.