Spinor Self-Ordering of a Quantum Gas in a Cavity

We observe the joint spin-spatial (spinor) self-organization of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) strongly coupled to an optical cavity. This unusual nonequilibrium Hepp-Lieb-Dicke phase transition is driven by an off-resonant Raman transition formed from a classical pump field and the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2018-10, Vol.121 (16), p.163601-163601, Article 163601
Main Authors: Kroeze, Ronen M, Guo, Yudan, Vaidya, Varun D, Keeling, Jonathan, Lev, Benjamin L
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Condensates
Domain walls
Phase transitions
Polaritons
Spin glasses
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Summary:We observe the joint spin-spatial (spinor) self-organization of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) strongly coupled to an optical cavity. This unusual nonequilibrium Hepp-Lieb-Dicke phase transition is driven by an off-resonant Raman transition formed from a classical pump field and the emergent quantum dynamical cavity field. This mediates a spinor-spinor interaction that, above a critical strength, simultaneously organizes opposite spinor states of the BEC on opposite checkerboard configurations of an emergent 2D lattice. The resulting spinor density-wave polariton condensate is observed by directly detecting the atomic spin and momentum state and by holographically reconstructing the phase of the emitted cavity field. The latter provides a direct measure of the spin state, and a spin-spatial domain wall is observed. The photon-mediated spin interactions demonstrated here may be engineered to create dynamical gauge fields and quantum spin glasses.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.163601