Observation of Scale Invariance in Two-Dimensional Matter-Wave Townes Solitons

Strongly Interacting Photons in 2D Waveguide QED

One-dimensional confinement in waveguide quantum electrodynamics (QED) plays a crucial role to enhance light-matter interactions and to induce a strong quantum nonlinear optical response. In two or higher-dimensional settings, this response is reduced since photons can be emitted within a larger phase space, opening the question whether strong photon-photon interaction can be still achieved. In this study, we positively answer this question for the case of a 2D square array of atoms coupled to the light confined into a two-dimensional waveguide. More specifically, we demonstrate the occurrence of long-lived two-photon repulsive and bound states with genuine 2D features. Furthermore, we observe signatures of these effects also in free-space atomic arrays in the form of weakly subradiant in-band scattering resonances. Our findings provide a paradigmatic signature of the presence of strong photon-photon interactions in 2D waveguide QED.

Matter-wave gap solitons and vortices in three-dimensional parity-time-symmetric optical lattices

Past decades have witnessed the emergence and increasing expansion of parity-time (PT)-symmetric systems in diverse physical fields and beyond as they manifest entirely all-real spectra, although being non-Hermitian. Nonlinear waves in low-dimensional PT-symmetric non-Hermitian systems have recently been explored broadly; however, understanding these systems in higher dimensions remains abstruse and has yet to be revealed. We survey, theoretically and numerically, matter-wave nonlinear gap modes of Bose-Einstein condensates with repulsive interparticle interactions in three-dimensional PT optical lattices with emphasis on multidimensional gap solitons and vortices. Utilizing direct perturbed simulations, we address the stability and instability areas of both localized modes in the underlying linear band gap spectra. Our study provides deep and consistent understandings of the formation, structural property, and dynamics of coherent localized matter waves supported by PT optical lattices in multidimensional space, thus opening a way for exploring and stabilizing three-dimensional localized gap modes in non-Hermitian systems

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3D parity-time (PT)-symmetric optical lattices are used to overcome the collapse of 3D ultracold atoms.

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3D matter-wave gap solitons and vortices are found in PT-symmetric optical lattices.

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Rich properties and dynamics of 3D matter-wave localized modes are disclosed.

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In-depth soliton physics is provided in 3D non-Hermitian periodic physical systems.

Realization of a Townes Soliton in a Two-Component Planar Bose Gas

Most experimental observations of solitons are limited to one-dimensional (1D) situations, where they are naturally stable. For instance, in 1D cold Bose gases, they exist for any attractive interaction strength g and particle number N. By contrast, in two dimensions, solitons appear only for discrete values of gN, the so-called Townes soliton being the most celebrated example. Here, we use a two-component Bose gas to prepare deterministically such a soliton: Starting from a uniform bath of atoms in a given internal state, we imprint the soliton wave function using an optical transfer to another state. We explore various interaction strengths, atom numbers, and sizes and confirm the existence of a solitonic behavior for a specific value of gN and arbitrary sizes, a hallmark of scale invariance.