English

Unveiling the BEC-droplet transition with Rayleigh superradiant scattering

Quantum Gases 2025-10-27 v1 Quantum Physics

Abstract

Light scattering plays an essential role in uncovering the properties of quantum states through light-matter interactions. Here, we explore the transition from Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) to droplets in a dipolar 166^{166}Er gas by employing superradiant light scattering as both a probing and controlling tool. We observe that the efficiency of superradiant scattering exhibits a non-monotonic behavior akin to the rate of sample expansion during the transition, signaling its sensitivity to the initial quantum state, and in turn, revealing the BEC-droplet transition. Through controlled atom depletion via superradiance, we analyze the sample's expansion dynamics and aspect ratio to identify the BEC-droplet phases distinctly, supported by Gaussian variational ansatz calculations. Finally, using these two approaches, we track how the BEC-droplet transition points shift under varying magnetic field orientations. Our work opens new avenues for studying quantum states through superradiance, advancing our understanding of both the BEC-droplet crossover and its coherence properties.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2510.21211,
  title  = {Unveiling the BEC-droplet transition with Rayleigh superradiant scattering},
  author = {Mithilesh K. Parit and Mingchen Huang and Ziting Chen and Yifei He and Haoting Zhen and Gyu-Boong Jo},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2510.21211},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

6 pages, 4 figures, supplementary notes