TY - JOUR
T1 - Spin current generation and relaxation in a quenched spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate
AU - Li, Chuan Hsun
AU - Qu, Chunlei
AU - Niffenegger, Robert J.
AU - Wang, Su Ju
AU - He, Mingyuan
AU - Blasing, David B.
AU - Olson, Abraham J.
AU - Greene, Chris H.
AU - Lyanda-Geller, Yuli
AU - Zhou, Qi
AU - Zhang, Chuanwei
AU - Chen, Yong P.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, The Author(s).
PY - 2019/12/1
Y1 - 2019/12/1
N2 - Understanding the effects of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and many-body interactions on spin transport is important in condensed matter physics and spintronics. This topic has been intensively studied for spin carriers such as electrons but barely explored for charge-neutral bosonic quasiparticles (including their condensates), which hold promises for coherent spin transport over macroscopic distances. Here, we explore the effects of synthetic SOC (induced by optical Raman coupling) and atomic interactions on the spin transport in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), where the spin-dipole mode (SDM, actuated by quenching the Raman coupling) of two interacting spin components constitutes an alternating spin current. We experimentally observe that SOC significantly enhances the SDM damping while reducing the thermalization (the reduction of the condensate fraction). We also observe generation of BEC collective excitations such as shape oscillations. Our theory reveals that the SOC-modified interference, immiscibility, and interaction between the spin components can play crucial roles in spin transport.
AB - Understanding the effects of spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and many-body interactions on spin transport is important in condensed matter physics and spintronics. This topic has been intensively studied for spin carriers such as electrons but barely explored for charge-neutral bosonic quasiparticles (including their condensates), which hold promises for coherent spin transport over macroscopic distances. Here, we explore the effects of synthetic SOC (induced by optical Raman coupling) and atomic interactions on the spin transport in an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), where the spin-dipole mode (SDM, actuated by quenching the Raman coupling) of two interacting spin components constitutes an alternating spin current. We experimentally observe that SOC significantly enhances the SDM damping while reducing the thermalization (the reduction of the condensate fraction). We also observe generation of BEC collective excitations such as shape oscillations. Our theory reveals that the SOC-modified interference, immiscibility, and interaction between the spin components can play crucial roles in spin transport.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85060372751&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85060372751&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-018-08119-4
DO - 10.1038/s41467-018-08119-4
M3 - Article
C2 - 30670693
AN - SCOPUS:85060372751
VL - 10
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 375
ER -