Condensation dynamics in a quantum-quenched Bose gas

Abstract

By quenching the strength of interactions in a partially condensed Bose gas we create a "super-saturated" vapor which has more thermal atoms than it can contain in equilibrium. Subsequently, the number of condensed atoms ($N_0$) grows even though the temperature ($T$) rises and the total atom number decays. We show that the non-equilibrium evolution of the system is isoenergetic and for small initial $N_0$ observe a clear separation between $T$ and $N_0$ dynamics, thus explicitly demonstrating the theoretically expected "two-step" picture of condensate growth. For increasing initial $N_0$ values we observe a crossover to classical relaxation dynamics. The size of the observed quench-induced effects can be explained using a simple equation of state for an interacting harmonically-trapped atomic gas.

4 pages, 4 figures

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• Temporal decay of Neel order in the one-dimensional Fermi-Hubbard model
• Dynamics of a Fermi gas quenched to unitarity
• Excitation picture of an interacting Bose gas
• A superheated Bose-condensed gas
• Dissipative Distillation of Supercritical Quantum Gases
• A universal speed limit for spreading of coherence
• Stable production of a strongly-interacting Bose-Einstein condensate via mode-matching