How Solid is Supersolid?

Supertransport by Superclimbing Dislocations in ^{4}He: When All Dimensions Matter

The unique superflow-through-solid effect observed in solid ^{4}He and attributed to the quasi-one-dimensional superfluidity along the dislocation cores exhibits two extraordinary features: (i) an exponentially strong suppression of the flow by a moderate increase in pressure and (ii) an unusual temperature dependence of the flow rate with no analogy to any known system and in contradiction with the standard Luttinger liquid paradigm. Based on ab initio and model simulations, we argue that the two features are closely related: Thermal fluctuations of the shape of a superclimbing edge dislocation induce large, correlated, and asymmetric stress fields acting on the superfluid core. The critical flux is most sensitive to strong rare fluctuations and hereby acquires a sharp temperature dependence observed in experiments.

Supersolid gap soliton in a Bose-Einstein condensate and optical ring cavity coupling system

The system of a transversely pumped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) coupled to a lossy ring cavity can favor a supersolid steady state. Here we find the existence of supersolid gap soliton in such a driven-dissipative system. By numerically solving the mean-field atom-cavity field coupling equations, gap solitons of a few different families have been identified. Their dynamical properties, including stability, propagation, and soliton collision, are also studied. Due to the feedback atom-intracavity field interaction, these supersolid gap solitons show numerous new features compared with the usual BEC gap solitons in static optical lattices.

Zeroth-Order Nucleation Transition under Nanoscale Phase Separation

Materials with nanoscale phase separation are considered. A system representing a heterophase mixture of ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases is studied. After averaging over phase configurations, a renormalized Hamiltonian is derived describing the coexisting phases. The system is characterized by direct and exchange interactions and an external magnetic field. The properties of the system are studied numerically. The stability conditions define the stable state of the system. At a temperature of zero, the system is in a pure ferromagnetic state. However, at finite temperature, for some interaction parameters, the system can exhibit a zeroth-order nucleation transition between the pure ferromagnetic phase and the mixed state with coexisting ferromagnetic and paramagnetic phases. At the nucleation transition, the finite concentration of the paramagnetic phase appears via a jump.

New states of matter with fine-tuned interactions: quantum droplets and dipolar supersolids

Quantum fluctuations can stabilize Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) against the mean-field collapse. Stabilization of the condensate has been observed in quantum degenerate Bose-Bose mixtures and dipolar BECs. The fine-tuning of the interatomic interactions can lead to the emergence of two new states of matter: liquid-like self-bound quantum droplets and supersolid crystals formed from these droplets. We review the properties of these exotic states of matter and summarize the experimental progress made using dipolar quantum gases and Bose-Bose mixtures. We conclude with an outline of important open questions that could be addressed in the future.

Saga of Superfluid Solids

The article presents the state of the art and reviews the literature on the long-standing problem of the possibility for a sample to be at the same time solid and superfluid. Theoretical models, numerical simulations, and experimental results are discussed.

Spontaneously Flowing Crystal of Self-Propelled Particles

We experimentally and numerically study the structure and dynamics of a monodisperse packing of spontaneously aligning self-propelled hard disks. The packings are such that their equilibrium counterparts form perfectly ordered hexagonal structures. Experimentally, we first form a perfect crystal in a hexagonal arena which respects the same crystalline symmetry. Frustration of the hexagonal order, obtained by removing a few particles, leads to the formation of a rapidly diffusing "droplet." Removing more particles, the whole system spontaneously forms a macroscopic sheared flow, while conserving an overall crystalline structure. This flowing crystalline structure, which we call a "rheocrystal," is made possible by the condensation of shear along localized stacking faults. Numerical simulations very well reproduce the experimental observations and allow us to explore the parameter space. They demonstrate that the rheocrystal is induced neither by frustration nor by noise. They further show that larger systems flow faster while still remaining ordered.

Monodisperse cluster crystals: Classical and quantum dynamics

We study the phases and dynamics of a gas of monodisperse particles interacting via soft-core potentials in two spatial dimensions, which is of interest for soft-matter colloidal systems and quantum atomic gases. Using exact theoretical methods, we demonstrate that the equilibrium low-temperature classical phase simultaneously breaks continuous translational symmetry and dynamic space-time homogeneity, whose absence is usually associated with out-of-equilibrium glassy phenomena. This results in an exotic self-assembled cluster crystal with coexisting liquidlike long-time dynamical properties, which corresponds to a classical analog of supersolid behavior. We demonstrate that the effects of quantum fluctuations and bosonic statistics on cluster-glassy crystals are separate and competing: Zero-point motion tends to destabilize crystalline order, which can be restored by bosonic statistics.

Stable Dilute Supersolid of Two-Dimensional Dipolar Bosons

We consider two-dimensional bosonic dipoles oriented perpendicularly to the plane. On top of the usual two-body contact and long-range dipolar interactions we add a contact three-body repulsion as expected, in particular, for dipoles in the bilayer geometry with tunneling. The three-body repulsion is crucial for stabilizing the system, and we show that our model allows for stable continuous space supersolid states in the dilute regime and calculate the zero-temperature phase diagram.

Interlayer-interaction dependence of latent heat in the Heisenberg model on a stacked triangular lattice with competing interactions

We study the phase transition behavior of a frustrated Heisenberg model on a stacked triangular lattice by Monte Carlo simulations. The model has three types of interactions: the ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interaction J(1) and antiferromagnetic third nearest-neighbor interaction J(3) in each triangular layer and the ferromagnetic interlayer interaction J([perpendicular]). Frustration comes from the intralayer interactions J(1) and J(3). We focus on the case that the order parameter space is SO(3)×C(3). We find that the model exhibits a first-order phase transition with breaking of the SO(3) and C(3) symmetries at finite temperature. We also discover that the transition temperature increases but the latent heat decreases as J([perpendicular])/J(1) increases, which is opposite to the behavior observed in typical unfrustrated three-dimensional systems.