TY - GEN
T1 - Lightspeed at a snail's pace
T2 - Laser Science, LS 2014
AU - Carr, Lincoln D.
AU - Haddad, Laith H.
AU - Weaver, Christopher M.
AU - O'Hara, Kenneth
PY - 2014/10/14
Y1 - 2014/10/14
N2 - Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) are a macroscopic state of quantum matter at temperatures nine orders of magnitude colder than outer space. BECs can be trapped in crystals of light: when the crystal takes the form of a honeycomb optical lattice, Dirac physics arises at the Brillouin zone edges, just like in graphene. The weakly interacting quantum gas comprising the BEC generates an effective nonlinearity, giving rise to the nonlinear Dirac equation (NLDE) [1], as we will show. This equation, together with the relativistic linear stability equations (RLSE) [2], comprise a relativistic generalization of the famous nonlinear Schrodinger equation and Boguliubov-de Gennes equations familiar from, for example, propagation of light in Kerr nonlinear media. We present a zoo of exotic vortex [3], skyrmion, and soliton [4,5] solutions to the NLDE+RLSE system, and explain the practical realization of these concepts in present experiments on BECs in the optical equivalent of 2D graphene and 1D armchair and zigzag graphene nanoribbons.
AB - Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) are a macroscopic state of quantum matter at temperatures nine orders of magnitude colder than outer space. BECs can be trapped in crystals of light: when the crystal takes the form of a honeycomb optical lattice, Dirac physics arises at the Brillouin zone edges, just like in graphene. The weakly interacting quantum gas comprising the BEC generates an effective nonlinearity, giving rise to the nonlinear Dirac equation (NLDE) [1], as we will show. This equation, together with the relativistic linear stability equations (RLSE) [2], comprise a relativistic generalization of the famous nonlinear Schrodinger equation and Boguliubov-de Gennes equations familiar from, for example, propagation of light in Kerr nonlinear media. We present a zoo of exotic vortex [3], skyrmion, and soliton [4,5] solutions to the NLDE+RLSE system, and explain the practical realization of these concepts in present experiments on BECs in the optical equivalent of 2D graphene and 1D armchair and zigzag graphene nanoribbons.
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84919776095
T3 - Laser Science, LS 2014
BT - Laser Science, LS 2014
PB - Optical Society of America (OSA)
Y2 - 19 October 2014 through 23 October 2014
ER -