Self-trapping in Cold Atoms from Negative Effective Mass

ORAL

Abstract

Self-trapping phenomena have been observed in optical lattices but the expalanation is complicated because of the underlying lattice geometry. In this talk, we will describe a simple theory based on negative-mass hydrodynamics in a spin-orbit coupled (SOC) Bose-Einstien condensate (BEC) of $^{87}\text{Rb}$, and argue that self-trapping can be explained solely in terms of negative effective mass without any complications of lattice geometry. We have engineered the underlying dispersion relation with a negative curavature region exhibiting exquisite control over atomic interactions, which leads to a number of interesting effects, such as breaking of Galilean covariance, modulational instability and a slow down demonstrating negative acceleration.

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Authors

  • Khalid Hossain

    Washington State University

  • Kuo-Fu Tseng

    Idaho Accelerator Center, University of Oregon, Department of Physics, Oregon State Univ, University Of Oregon, Washington State University, Simon Fraser University, University of Southern Queensland, Australia, UC Davis, Oregon State University, Henan University

  • Kuo-Fu Tseng

    Idaho Accelerator Center, University of Oregon, Department of Physics, Oregon State Univ, University Of Oregon, Washington State University, Simon Fraser University, University of Southern Queensland, Australia, UC Davis, Oregon State University, Henan University

  • Yongping Zhang

    Shanghai University

  • Th. Busch

    OIST Graduate University, Okinawa

  • Michael Forbes

    Washington State University, University of Washington, Washington State University

  • Peter Engels

    Washington State Univ, Washington State University