Authors:
- Nominated as an outstanding Ph.D. thesis by the Atominstitut, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria
- Experimental demonstration of a new physical phenomenon that challenges our understanding of statistical mechanics
- Exhaustive experimental investigation of the phenomenon opening the way to further theoretical contributions
Part of the book series: Springer Theses (Springer Theses)
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About this book
The relaxation of isolated quantum many-body systems is a major unsolved problem of modern physics, which is connected to many fundamental questions. However, realizations of quantum many-body systems which are both well isolated from their environment and accessible to experimental study are scarce. In recent years, the field has experienced rapid progress, partly attributed to ultra-cold atoms.
This book presents the experimental study of a relaxation phenomenon occurring in a one-dimensional bosonic Josephson junction. The system consists of two 1D quasi Bose-Einstein condensates of 87Rb, magnetically trapped on an atom chip. Using radio-frequency dressing, the author deforms a single harmonic trap, in which the atoms are initially condensed, into a double-well potential and realizes a splitting of the wave function. A large spatial separation and a tilt of the double-well enable the preparation of a broad variety of initial states by precisely adjusting the initial population and relative phase of the two wave packets, while preserving the phase coherence. By re-coupling the two wave packets, the author investigates tunneling regimes such as Josephson (plasma) oscillations and macroscopic quantum self-trapping.
In both regimes, the tunneling dynamics exhibits a relaxation to a phase-locked equilibrium state contradicting theoretical predictions. The experimental results are supported with an empirical model that allows quantitative discussions according to various experimental parameters. These results illustrate how strongly the non-equilibrium dynamics differ from the equilibrium one, which is well described by thermodynamics and statistical physics.Authors and Affiliations
-
Atominstitut TU Wien, Vienna, Austria
Marine Pigneur
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Non-equilibrium Dynamics of Tunnel-Coupled Superfluids
Book Subtitle: Relaxation to a Phase-Locked Equilibrium State in a One-Dimensional Bosonic Josephson Junction
Authors: Marine Pigneur
Series Title: Springer Theses
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-52844-7
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-52843-0Published: 29 August 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-52846-1Published: 29 August 2021
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-52844-7Published: 28 August 2020
Series ISSN: 2190-5053
Series E-ISSN: 2190-5061
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XX, 187
Number of Illustrations: 65 b/w illustrations, 38 illustrations in colour
Topics: Quantum Physics, Condensed Matter Physics, Low Temperature Physics