Related papers: Supersolid Phase in Helium-4
Can a gas behave like a crystal? Supersolidity is an intriguing and challenging state of matter which combines key features of superfluids and crystals. Predicted a long time ago, its experimental realization has been recently achieved in…
Phase transitions are ubiquitous in nature, ranging from protein folding and denaturisation, to the superconductor-insulator quantum phase transition, to the decoupling of forces in the early universe. Remarkably, phase transitions can be…
We report the realization of a BEC of metastable helium-4 atoms (4He*) in an all optical potential. Up to 10^5 spin polarized 4He* atoms are condensed in an optical dipole trap formed from a single, focused, vertically propagating far…
Exciton mediated superconductor is a fascinating quantum phase of matter that occurs when excitons become the dominant excitation in materials, which is also very promising for high temperature superconductor. However, there is no…
Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in cold gases can be turned on and off by an external potential, such as that presented by an optical lattice. We present a model of this phenomenon which we are able to analyze rigorously. The system is a…
Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of an ideal gas is investigated, beyond the thermodynamic limit, for a finite number $N$ of particles trapped in a generic three-dimensional power-law potential. We derive an analytical expression for the…
We study the zero-temperature quantum phase transition between liquid and hcp solid helium-4. We use the variational method with a simple yet exchange-symmetric and fully explicit wavefunction. It is found that the optimized wavefunction…
We study superfluidity of a cigar-shaped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) by stirring it with a Gaussian potential oscillating back and forth along the axial dimension of the condensate, motivated by experiments of C. Raman et al. Phys. Rev.…
In this paper we propose a thermodynamically consistent model for superfluid-normal phase transition in liquid helium, accounting for variations of temperature and density. The phase transition is described by means of an order parameter,…
We show that a sudden change in the polarization direction of the magnetic dipole moments of the atoms in a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) can serve as a useful probe to sense its superfluid and solid-like properties. We find that…
The ongoing experimental and theoretical effort aimed at understanding non-classical rotational inertia in solid helium, has sparked renewed interest in the supersolid phase of matter, its microscopic origin and character, and its…
An introduction to Bose-Einstein condensation and the $\lambda$-transition is given. Results of quantum loop Monte Carlo simulations are presented for interacting Lennard-Jones helium-4. The optimum condensation fraction is found by…
A decrease in the rotational period observed in torsional oscillator measurements was recently taken as a possible indication of a supersolid state of helium. We reexamine this interpretation and note that the decrease in the rotation…
We report low temperature measurements of bulk solid $^4$He in a two-frequency compound torsional oscillator with both annular and open cylinder sample geometries. The oscillators were designed to suppress period shifts arising from all…
This article is written as a Lecture given in the 2006 Varenna Summer School on "Ultracold Fermi Gases". Here we present a review of BCS--Bose Einstein condensation (BEC) crossover theory with emphasis on finite temperature effects. We…
An abrupt drop in the moment of inertia recently found in solid helium 4 is explained in terms of dynamics of zero-point vacancies (ZPV). Mechanical decoupling of ZPV from the motion of the container due to Bose statistics is developed to a…
We have produced a Bose-Einstein condensate of metastable helium (4He*) containing over 1.5x10^7 atoms, which is a factor of 25 higher than previously achieved. The improved starting conditions for evaporative cooling are obtained by…
Supersolidity - a coexistence of superfluidity and crystalline or amorphous density variations - has been vividly debated ever since its conjecture. While the initial focus was on helium-4, recent experiments uncovered supersolidity in…
The low temperature properties of solid $^4$He contained in porous Vycor glass have been investigated utilizing a two-mode compound torsional oscillator. At low temperatures, we find period shift signals for the solid similar to those…
Integrating seminal ideas of London, Feynman, and Feenberg, this paper continues the development of an ab initio theory of the lambda transition in liquid 4He. The theory is based on variational determination of a trial density matrix…