Dynamical formation of multiple quantum droplets in a Bose-Bose mixture

Abstract

We report on the formation of multiple quantum droplets in a heteronuclear ${}^{41}$K-${}^{87}$Rb mixture released in an optical waveguide. By a sudden change of the interspecies interaction from the non-interacting to the strongly attractive regime, we initially form a single droplet in an excited compression-elongation mode. The latter axially expands up to a critical length and then splits into two or more smaller fragments, recognizable as quantum droplets. We find that the number of formed droplets increases with decreasing interspecies attraction and increasing atom number. We show, by combining theory and experiment, that this behavior is consistent with capillary instability, which causes the breakup of the stretching droplet due to the surface tension. Our results open new possibilities to explore the properties of quantum liquids and systems of multiple quantum droplets in two-component bosonic mixtures.

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• Empty and filled vortices in squeezed 39K Bose-Bose liquid drops
• Geometric filtering effect in expanding Bose-Einstein condensate shells
• Multicomponent one-dimensional quantum droplets across the mean-field stability regime
• Experimental study of matter-wave four-wave mixing in ${}^{39}$K Bose-Einstein condensates with tunable interaction
• Fragmentation Temperature of 1D and 3D Quantum Droplets in a BEC Mixture
• Phases and dynamics of an impurity immersed in one-dimensional quantum droplets
• Dimensional crossover of bound complexes in a two-species Bose-Hubbard lattice: Correlations and dynamics