Nematic and Magnetic Behavior of Spin-1 Bose-Einstein Condensates

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General audience abstract: Most waves—from those traveling in water, to radio waves used for communication—naturally spread out, or disperse, when traveling over a long enough distance. Solitons are a special category of wave that does not experience dispersion, and which therefore maintain its shape while propagating. Solitons occur naturally in the world, from water waves to biological systems, and have even existed in the early universe. If the medium is an optical fiber, then the resulting waves are optical solitons, whose nonspreading ability has technological relevance for sending optical pulses over long distances for communication. The solitons created in quantum systems such as atomic Bose-Einstein condensates have unique aspects, including the potential for quantum communication and computation. This project will discover how to make such quantum solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates in a careful and controlled manner in order to answer questions such as when do solitons form bound pairs and what is the collective behavior of large numbers of solitons that interact with one another. By answering such questions, we may come closer to finding practical applications for solitons. In addition to conducting this laboratory research, the PI will reach out to the Atlanta K-12 community through summer internships for local high school teachers. Graduate student teaching and training will continue to be emphasized, as will exposure of undergraduates to research. Technical audience abstract: Experiments will be performed that create and control magnetic solitons and related structures in sodium spinor Bose-Einstein condensates. These unique solitons, which exist only for antiferromagnetic interactions, were first predicted theoretically in 2016, and were recently observed experimentally. They are a type of vector soliton existing in a quantum fluid with multiple components in the non-Manakov limit of the nonlinear Schrodinger equation. Bose-Einstein condensates, with a rich panoply of internal hyperfine levels, or spin components, are a unique platform for exploring these solitary waves. Digital micromirror devices will be used to carefully control the soliton placement and dynamical evolution, with the goal of observing soliton bound states and other ordered structures. The research connects atomic physics to nonlinear science, optics and condensed matter. Scientific collaborations established in the previous funding cycle will be continued and strengthened.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.