Neste trabalho nós apresentamos detalhadamente todo o desenvolvimento experimental realizado em São Carlos para produção e estudo de gases quânticos, visando principalmente à produção do condensado de Bose-Einstein em átomos de Na-23. Para isso projetamos, construímos e integramos todo um complexo sistema experimental que reúne a maioria das técnicas desenvolvidas na área de átomos frios nas últimas décadas: desaceleração de feixes atômicos, aprisionamento magnético e magneto-óptico de átomos neutros, resfriamento sub-Doppler, resfriamento evaporativo induzido por radiofreqüência, manipulação de altos campos magnéticos e o processamento de imagens de amostras próximas do zero absoluto. Com isso realizamos o primeiro e mais importante passo, também o mais difícil, do nosso projeto de estudo de gases quânticos, que foi o desenvolvimento e operacionalização de todo o aparato experimental. Ainda assim, este trabalho não se resume apenas ao desenvolvimento de instrumentação, pois ao longo do caminho também fizemos contribuições cientificas originais e importantes para o desenvolvimento da área de átomos frios, como um todo. Essas contribuições resultaram em várias publicações que estão anexadas no apêndice III, mas não constituem o foco deste trabalho, cujo principal objetivo é o estudo de gases quânticos macroscopicamente degenerados. / We present here all the experimental development obtained in São Carlos to produce and study quantum degenerate gases, aiming specially the realization of Bose-Einstein Condensation (BEC) in sodium (Na-23) atoms. In order to do that we designed, built and completely integrated a complex experimental setup which conjugates most of the techniques developed along the last decades to produce cold atoms: atomic beam slowing, magnetic and magneto-optical trapping, optical sub-Doppler cooling, forced evaporative cooling induced by radio-frequency (RF), controlling of high gradient and curvature magnetic fields for atom trapping and the image acquisition and processing of atomic samples near absolute zero temperatures. During this period we did the first and most important step, also the most difficult, of our current project to study quantum gases, which was the development and realization of all the experimental apparatus. However, this work is not just about instrumentation, and along the way we also did important scientific contributions to the cold atom field, as whole. These contributions resulted in several publications, listed in appendix III, but they do not constitute the focus of this work, which main goal is the study of macroscopically quantum degenerate gases.

No presente trabalho foi estudada a dinâmica de um sistema de muitas partículas no regime de temperaturas ultra-baixas. Realizamos um estudo dinâmico de sistemas condensados bidimensionais em uma rede óptica não-linear em uma direção e também na presença de uma armadilha harmônica assimétrica. Investigamos alguns aspectos sobre a estabilização e propagação de sólitons em condensados de Bose-Einstein. O colapso da função de onda é evitado pela não-linearidade periódica dissipativa, no caso de um meio com campo de fundo positivo (com sistemas atômicos atrativos). A variação adiabática do comprimento de espalhamento de fundo leva a existência de sólitons de onda de matéria metaestáveis. Um sóliton dissipativo pode existir no meio atrativo bidimensional (2D) com uma não-linearidade periódica unidimensional (1D), quando um mecanismo de alimentação atômica é utilizado. Um sóliton estável pode existir no caso de condensados repulsivos, em um campo de fundo negativo, com uma armadilha harmônica em uma direção e uma rede óptica não-linear na outra direção. Os resultados inteiramente numéricos, para a equação de Gross-Pitaevskii 2D, confirmam as simulações da abordagem variacional. / In this work the dynamics of a system of many particles in a ultra-low temperature regime was studied. We performed a dynamic study of two-dimensional condensate systems into a nonlinear optical lattice in one direction and also in the presence of an asymmetrical harmonic trap. We investigated some aspects of the stabilization and spread of solitons in a Bose-Einstein condensate. In the case of positive background field media (with attractive atomic systems), the collapse of the wave-packet is arrested by the dissipative periodic nonlinearity. The adiabatic variation of the background scattering length leads to metastable matter-wave solitons. When the atom feeding mechanism is used, a dissipative soliton can exist in an attractive bidimensional (2D) media with unidimensional (1D) periodic nonlinearity. In the case of repulsive condensates, with a negative background field, a stable soliton may exist when we have an harmonic trap in one direction and a nonlinear optical lattice in the other. Variational approach simulations are confirmed by full numerical results for the 2D Gross-Pitaevskii equation.

Orientadores: Roberto Luzzi, Áurea Rosas Vasconcellos / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin / Made available in DSpace on 2018-10-31T13:25:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Vannucchi_FabioStucchi_D.pdf: 4583166 bytes, checksum: 8617f375a632ae1e33b0c986862ea535 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011 / Resumo: Este trabalho tem por objetivo desenvolver uma teoria sobre a termodinâmica de não-equilíbrio de mágnons excitados por fonte externa e em contato com um banho térmico. A teoria é aplicada ao recém observado acúmulo de mágnons nos estados de mínima freqüência em experimentos com filmes finos magnetizados de granada de ferro-ítrio afastados do equilíbrio via fonte de radiação de microondas. Seguindo um formalismo de ensembles estatísticos de não-equilíbrio, a partir do hamiltoniano do sistema magnético são obtidas as equações de evolução para as variáveis termodinâ­micas. Entre estas equações, as que descrevem a evolução das populações médias de mágnons são estudadas em detalhe e atenção especial é dada às contribuições não- lineares. Mostra-se que, por um lado, o termo não-linear proveniente da interação do sistema magnético com a rede cristalina transfere energia das populações dos modos de alta freqüência para os de baixa, gerando um acúmulo nos modos de mínima fre­qüência - o Efeito Fröhlich. Por outro lado, a interação mágnon-mágnon origina uma contribuição à evolução das populações que tende a termalizar o sistema em termos de uma temperatura de não-equilíbrio. É ainda utilizada uma ¿modelagem de dois flui­dos¿, em que as equações cinéticas das populações de mágnons associadas a todos os modos são contraídas em apenas duas, que representa os modos de mínima freqüência e aqueles alimentados. Esta modelagem permite estudar quantitativamente a evolução temporal do sistema via integração numérica. Constata-se que, para um determinado intervalo de taxas de alimentação, forma-se o condensado devido ao Efeito Fröhlich. Para valores mais altos da potência da fonte de alimentação, a contribuição devido à interação entre mágnons torna-se dominante e a formação do condensado é inibida. Por fim, os diversos processos de relaxação do condensado para o equilíbrio são investigados em função do valor da fonte externa do sistema / Abstract: The purpose of this work is to develop a nonequilibrium thermodynamic theory on rnagnons excited by an external pumping source embedded in a thermal bath. This the­ory is applied to the recently observed experiments with magnetic thin films of yttrium iron garnet driven out of equilibrium through microwave radiation pumping. Resorting to a Non-Equilibrium Statistical Ensemble Formalism, the evolution equations for the magnon populations are obtained and studied. The nonlinear contribution arising out of the spin-lattice interaction transfers the energy in excess of equilibrium from the pumped frequency modes to the lower frequency ones, and, in a cascade down process, occurs a large grow in the magnon populations of the lowest in frequency modes - a phenomenon we call Frohlich Effect. In opposition to this contribution, there is anot her one, generated by the magnon-magnon interaction, that tends to lead the system to a state of internal nonequilibrium thermalization. We introduce a modeling consisting in a kind of ¿two-fluid model", in which the kinetic equations for the magnon populations are contracted in only two, representing the modes lowest in frequency and the ones that are pumped by the external source. A quantitative study is performed through numerical integration of the two related evolution equations. The emergence of the condensate, due to the Frohlich Effect, is evidenced for a range of source power. For higher feeding taxes, the contribution originated by the magnon-magnon interaction becomes dominant and the emergence of the condensate is inhibited. Finally, the sev­eral relaxation processes in the condensate leading to equilibrium are analyzed in terms of the source power / Doutorado / Física Estatistica e Termodinamica / Doutor em Ciências

Usando a técnica de resfriamento evaporativo para átomos comprimidos numa armadilha magnética tipo QUIC, implementamos experimentos para observar Condensação de Bose-Einstein de átomos de sódio. Nessa armadilha magnética temos átomos advindos de uma armadilha magneto-óptica, a qual é carregada por um feixe desacelerado como etapa de pré-resfriamento. Nossas medidas foram baseadas em imagens de absorção fora de ressonância de um feixe de prova pela amostra atômica. Essas imagens foram feitas in situ, ou seja, na presença do campo da armadilha magnética, pelo fato do número de átomos ser baixo e a técnica de tempo de vôo não ser adequada a essa situação. Baseado no perfil de densidade e na temperatura medidos, calculamos a densidade de pico no espaço de fase D, a qual é seguida nas várias etapas de evaporação. Nossos resultados mostram que para uma freqüência final de evaporação de 1,65 MHz nós superamos o valor esperado para D (2,612) alcançar o ponto crítico, no centro da amostra, para obter a condensação. Devido ao baixo número de átomos restantes no potencial, a interação não produz efeitos consideráveis e dessa forma um modelo de gás ideal permite justificar essa observação. / Using a system composed of a QUIC trap loaded from a slowed atomic beam, we have performed experiments to observe the Bose-Einstein Condensation of Na atoms. In order to obtain the atomic distribution in the trap, we use an in situ out of resonance absorption image of a probe beam to determine the temperature and the density, which are use to calculate the phase space D. We have followed D as a function of the final evaporation frequency. The results show that at 1.65 MHz we crossed the critical value for D which corresponds to the point to start Bose-Condensation of the sample. Due to the low number of atoms remaining in the trap at the critical point, the interaction produce minor effects and therefore an ideal gas model explains well the observations.

Le phénomène de précession cohérente de l'aimantation dans l'hélium 3 superfluide a été découvert en 1984. Il se caractérise par la précession libre de l'aimantation du superfluide sur des échelles de temps très longues (dans certains cas, des heures). Ce phénomène est une signature de la superfluidité de spin, l'analogue magnétique de la supraconductivité ou de la superfluidité. La superfluidité de spin peut se décrire en termes de condensation de Bose-Einstein des excitations magnétiques du superfluide : les magnons. Ce formalisme permet de déterminer simplement les conditions dans lesquelles une telle condensation peut apparaître dans les différentes phases de l'hélium 3 superfluide. Ce travail présente comment l'utilisation d'aérogel anisotrope nous a permis de manipuler le paramètre d'ordre du superfluide et d'obtenir ainsi de nouvelles phases dans lesquelles la condensation de Bose-Einstein des magnons peut être observée. Nous avons ainsi étudié expérimentalement la précession cohérente de l'aimantation dans ces nouvelles phases. Nous avons également étudié l'influence de l'aérogel sur la transition de phase superfluide. Enfin, nous détaillons comment il est possible d'obtenir la précession cohérente de l'aimantation sur les différents niveaux d'un puits de potentiel pour les magnons. / The phenomenon of coherent precession of magnetization in superfluid helium 3 was discovered in 1984. It is characterized by the free precession of the magnetization of the superfluid on very long timescales (up to hours). This phenomenon is a signature of spin superfluidity, the magnetic analogue of superconductivity or superfluidity. Spin superfluidity can be described in terms of Bose-Einstein condensation the magnetic excitations of the superfluid: the magnons. This formalism makes it possible to determine easily the conditions in which such a condensation can appear in the different phases of superfluid helium 3. This work shows how the use of anisotropic aerogel permitted us to manipulate the order parameter of the superfluid and thus to obtain new phases in which the Bose-Einstein condensation of magnons can be observed. We were able to study experimentally the coherent precession of magnetization in these new phases. We also studied the influence of the aerogel on the superfluid transition. Finally, we detail how one can obtain the coherent precession of magnetization on different levels of a potential well for magnons.

Nesta dissertação estudaremos sistemas de bósons ultrafrios armadilhados em uma rede ótica quadrada bidimensional sem levar em consideração o confinamento harmônico. A dinâmica desses sistemas é bem descrita pelo modelo de Bose-Hubbard, que prevê uma transição de fase quântica de um superfluido para um isolante de Mott a temperaturas baixas, e pode ser induzida variando a profundidade do potencial da rede ótica. Apresentaremos o diagrama de fases dessa transição construído a partir de uma aproximação de campo médio e também com um cálculo numérico usando um algoritmo de Monte Carlo Quântico, denominado algoritmo Worm. Encontramos o ponto crítico para o primeiro lobo de Mott em ambos os casos, concordando com trabalhos anteriores. / This work study the two-dimensional ultracold bosonic atoms loaded in a square optical lattice, without harmonic confinement. The dynamics of this system is described by the Bose-Hubbard model, which predicts a quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott-insulator at low temperatures that can be induced by varying the depth of the optical potential. We present here the phase diagram of this transition built from a mean field approach and from a numerical calculation using a Quantum Monte Carlo algorithm, namely the Worm algorithm. We found the critical transition point for the first Mott lobe in both cases, in agreement with the standard literature.

Atominterferometer erlauben es, Beschleunigungen mit bisher nicht erreichter Präzision zu messen. Anwendungen in der Grundlagenforschung beinhalten Gravitationswellendetektoren, die Bestimmung von Naturkonstanten oder Tests des schwachen Äquivalenzprinzips. Die Sensitivität eines Sensors für Tests des schwachen Äquivalenzprinzips skaliert quadratisch mit der Zeit der freien Entwicklung der Atome während der Interferometersequenz. Durch die Verwendung von Bose-Einstein-Kondensaten mit stark reduzierter Ausdehnungsgeschwindigkeit sowie dem Betrieb in Schwerelosigkeit kann die Sensitivität um Größenordnungen verbessert werden. Das QUANTUS-2 Experiment stellt die zweite Generation eines mobilen Atominterferometers dar, welches am Fallturm in Bremen zum Einsatz kommt und dient als Wegbereiter für zukünftige Experimente mit kalten Atomen auf Satelliten. Durch differentielle Messung der Beschleunigung von Rubidium und Kalium mit Hilfe der Atominterferometrie soll das schwache Äquivalenzprinzip getestet werden. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde das auf mikro-integrierten Diodenlasern sowie einer kompakten Elektronik basierende Rubidiumlasersystem aufgebaut und qualifiziert. Nach erfolgter Integration in die QUANTUS-2 Kapsel, wurden über 200 Abwürfe und Katapultflüge am Fallturm absolviert. Diese demonstrieren die Robustheit des Experimentes unter Beschleunigungen von bis zu 43 g während eines Katapultfluges. Die Dynamik des Kondensates wurde in Schwerelosigkeit untersucht und die Ausbreitungsgeschwindigkeit in allen drei Raumrichtungen mit Hilfe einer magnetischen Linse verringert. Die dabei erreichten Ausbreitungsgeschwindigkeiten entsprechen effektiven Temperaturen von unter 120 pK eines thermischen Ensembles. Dieser stellt den niedrigsten in allen drei Raumrichtungen erreichten Wert dar. Die gezeigten Ergebnisse demonstrieren somit die Verfügbarkeit wichtiger Schlüsselkonzepte zukünftiger hochpräziser Quantensensoren auf Satelliten. / Atom interferometers offer the possibility to measure accelerations with unprecedented precision. Applications in fundamental research include gravitational wave detectors, the determination of physical constants, or tests of the weak equivalence principle. The sensitivity of an atom interferometer testing the weak equivalence principle scales quadratically with the time of free evolution of the atoms during the interferometer sequence. By using Bose-Einstein condensates with ultra-low expansion rates as test masses and operating the experiment in microgravity, one can enhance the sensitivity by orders of magnitude. QUANTUS-2 is the second generation mobile atom interferometer to be operated at the drop tower in Bremen and serves as a pathfinder for future cold atom experiments in space. It is envisaged to test the weak equivalence principle by a differential measurement of the acceleration of rubidium and potassium by means of atom interferometry. Within this thesis, the rubidium laser system was set up and qualified. It is based on micro-integrated laser modules and compact electronics. After integration into the QUANTUS-2 capsule, 200 drops and catapult flights were conducted at the drop tower. These are demonstrating the robustness of the complete experiment when being subjected to accelerations of up to 43 g during a catapult flight. The dynamics of the condensate were analyzed and the mean kinetic energy was reduced in all three dimensions by means of a magnetic lens. Expansion rates equivalent to a thermal ensemble having a temperature below 120 pK have been reached and represent the lowest value ever achieved in all three dimensions. The results prove the availability of relevant key concepts for future high-precision quantum sensors on a satellite platform.

The primary study of this thesis is spin-nematic squeezing in a spin-1 condensate. The measurement of spin-nematic squeezing builds on the success of previous experiments of spin-mixing together with advances in low noise atom counting. The major contributions of this thesis are linking theoretical models to experimental results and the development of the intuition and tools to address the squeezed subspaces. Understanding how spin-nematic squeezing is generated and how to measure it has required a review of several theoretical models of spin-mixing as well as extending these existing models. This extension reveals that the squeezing is between quadratures of a spin moment and a nematic (quadrapole) moment in abstract subspaces of the SU(3) symmetry group of the spin-1 system. The identification of the subspaces within the SU(3) symmetry allowed the development of techniques using RF and microwave oscillating magnetic fields to manipulate the phase space in order to measure the spin-nematic squeezing. Spin-mixing from a classically meta-stable state, the phase space manipulation, and low noise atom counting form the core of the experiment to measure spin-nematic squeezing. Spin-nematic squeezing is also compared to its quantum optics analogue, two-mode squeezing generated by four-wave mixing. The other experimental study in this thesis is performing spin-dependent photo-association spectroscopy. Spin-mixing is known to depend on the difference of the strengths of the scattering channels of the atoms. Optical Feshbach resonances have been shown to be able to alter these scattering lengths but with prohibitive losses of atoms near the resonance. The possibility of using multiple nearby resonances from different scattering channels has been proposed to overcome this limitation. However there was no spectroscopy in the literature which analyzes for the different scattering channels of atoms for the same initial states. Through analysis of the initial atomic states, this thesis studies how the spin state of the atoms affects what photo-association resonances are available to the colliding atoms based on their scattering channel and how this affects the optical Feshbach resonances. From this analysis a prediction is made for the extent of alteration of spin-mixing achievable as well as the impact on the atom loss rate.

In the mid-1920s, the great Albert Einstein proposed that at extremely low temperatures, a gas of bosonic particles will enter a new phase where a large fraction of them occupy the same quantum state. This state would bring many of the peculiar features of quantum mechanics, previously reserved for small samples consisting only of a few atoms or molecules, up to a macroscopic scale. This is what we today call a Bose-Einstein condensate. It would take physicists almost 70 years to realize Einstein's idea, but in 1995 this was finally achieved. The research on Bose-Einstein condensates has since taken many directions, one of the most exciting being to study their behavior when they are placed in optical lattices generated by laser beams. This has already produced a number of fascinating results, but it has also proven to be an ideal test-ground for predictions from certain nonlinear lattice models. Because on the other hand, nonlinear science, the study of generic nonlinear phenomena, has in the last half century grown out to a research field in its own right, influencing almost all areas of science and physics. Nonlinear localization is one of these phenomena, where localized structures, such as solitons and discrete breathers, can appear even in translationally invariant systems. Another one is the (in)famous chaos, where deterministic systems can be so sensitive to perturbations that they in practice become completely unpredictable. Related to this is the study of different types of instabilities; what their behavior are and how they arise. In this thesis we compare classical and quantum mechanical nonlinear lattice models which can be applied to BECs in optical lattices, and also examine how classical nonlinear concepts, such as localization, chaos and instabilities, can be transfered to the quantum world.

Ultracold atoms provide a powerful tool for studying quantum control of interacting many-body systems with well-characterized and controllable Hamiltonians. In this thesis, we demonstrate quantum control of a many-body system consisting of a ferromagnetic spin-1 Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). By tuning the Hamiltonian of the system, we can generate either a phase space with an unstable hyperbolic fixed point or a phase space with an elliptical fixed point. A classical pendulum with a stable oscillation about the "down" position and an inverted pendulum with unstable non-equilibrium dynamics about the "up" position are classical analogs of the quantum spin dynamics we investigate in this thesis. In one experiment, we dynamically stabilize the system about an unstable hyperbolic fixed point, which is similar to stabilizing an inverted pendulum. In a second experiment, we parametrically excite the system by modulating the quadratic Zeeman energy. In addition, we demonstrate rectifier phase control as a new method to manipulate the quantum states of the many-body system. This is similar to parametric excitation and manipulation of the oscillation angle of a classical pendulum. These experiments demonstrate the ability to control a quantum system realized in a spinor BEC, and they also can be applied to other quantum systems. In addition, we extend our studies to atoms above the Bose-Einstein transition temperature, and we present results on thermal spin relaxation processes and equilibrium spin populations.