Experimental observation of curved light-cones in a quantum field simulator.

We investigate signal propagation in a quantum field simulator of the Klein-Gordon model realized by two strongly coupled parallel one-dimensional quasi-condensates. By measuring local phononic fields after a quench, we observe the propagation of correlations along sharp light-cone fronts. If the local atomic density is inhomogeneous, these propagation fronts are curved. For sharp edges, the propagation fronts are reflected at the system's boundaries. By extracting the space-dependent variation of the front velocity from the data, we find agreement with theoretical predictions based on curved geodesics of an inhomogeneous metric. This work extends the range of quantum simulations of nonequilibrium field dynamics in general space-time metrics.

Floquet Engineering a Bosonic Josephson Junction.

We study Floquet engineering of the tunnel coupling between a pair of one-dimensional bosonic quasicondensates in a tilted double-well potential. By modulating the energy difference between the two wells, we reestablish tunnel coupling and precisely control its amplitude and phase. This allows us to initiate coherence between two initially uncorrelated Bose gases and prepare different initial states in the emerging sine-Gordon Hamiltonian. We fully characterize the Floquet system and study the dependence of both equilibrium properties and relaxation on the modulation.

Designing arbitrary one-dimensional potentials on an atom chip.

We use laser light shaped by a digital micro-mirror device to realize arbitrary optical dipole potentials for one-dimensional (1D) degenerate Bose gases of 87Rb trapped on an atom chip. Superposing optical and magnetic potentials combines the high flexibility of optical dipole traps with the advantages of magnetic trapping, such as effective evaporative cooling and the application of radio-frequency dressed state potentials. As applications, we present a 160 µm long box-like potential with a central tuneable barrier, a box-like potential with a sinusoidally modulated bottom and a linear confining potential. These potentials provide new tools to investigate the dynamics of 1D quantum systems and will allow us to address exciting questions in quantum thermodynamics and quantum simulations.

Realization of two-dimensional spin-orbit coupling for Bose-Einstein condensates.

Cold atoms with laser-induced spin-orbit (SO) interactions provide a platform to explore quantum physics beyond natural conditions of solids. Here we propose and experimentally realize two-dimensional (2D) SO coupling and topological bands for a rubidium-87 degenerate gas through an optical Raman lattice, without phase-locking or fine-tuning of optical potentials. A controllable crossover between 2D and 1D SO couplings is studied, and the SO effects and nontrivial band topology are observed by measuring the atomic cloud distribution and spin texture in momentum space. Our realization of 2D SO coupling with advantages of small heating and topological stability opens a broad avenue in cold atoms to study exotic quantum phases, including topological superfluids.

Softening of roton and phonon modes in a Bose-Einstein condensate with spin-orbit coupling.

Roton-type excitations usually emerge from strong correlations or long-range interactions, as in superfluid helium or dipolar ultracold atoms. However, in a weakly short-range interacting quantum gas, the recently synthesized spin-orbit (SO) coupling can lead to various unconventional phases of superfluidity and give rise to an excitation spectrum of roton-maxon character. Using Bragg spectroscopy, we study a SO-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate of ^{87}Rb atoms and show that the excitation spectrum in a "magnetized" phase clearly possesses a two-branch and roton-maxon structure. As Raman coupling strength Ω is decreased, a roton-mode softening is observed, as a precursor of the phase transition to a stripe phase that spontaneously breaks spatially translational symmetry. The measured roton gaps agree well with theoretical calculations. Furthermore, we determine sound velocities both in the magnetized and in the nonmagnetized phases, and a phonon-mode softening is observed around the phase transition in between. The validity of the f-sum rule is examined.

Collective dipole oscillations of a spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate.

In this Letter, we present an experimental study of the collective dipole oscillation of a spin-orbit coupled Bose-Einstein condensate in a harmonic trap. The dynamics of the center-of-mass dipole oscillation is studied in a broad parameter region as a function of spin-orbit coupling parameters as well as the oscillation amplitude. The anharmonic properties beyond the effective-mass approximation are revealed, such as the amplitude-dependent frequency and finite oscillation frequency at a place with a divergent effective mass. These anharmonic behaviors agree quantitatively with variational wave-function calculations. Moreover, we experimentally demonstrate a unique feature of the spin-orbit coupled system predicted by a sum-rule approach, stating that spin polarization susceptibility--a static physical quantity--can be measured via the dynamics of dipole oscillation. The divergence of polarization susceptibility is observed at the quantum phase transition that separates the magnetic nonzero-momentum condensate from the nonmagnetic zero-momentum phase. The good agreement between the experimental and theoretical results provides a benchmark for recently developed theoretical approaches.