Ultra-cold droplets of new quantum matter

Project funded by Swedish Research Council (Project grant), grant 2018-03764_VR. Participating organisations named by the source: Lund University. Funded amount: SEK 3,259,000, as stated by the source. Runs 2019-01-01 to 2022-12-31. Keywords: Naturvetenskap, Natural Sciences, Fysik, Physical Sciences, Atom- och molekylfysik och optik, Atom and Molecular Physics and Optics. Source: OpenAIRE Graph, from the funder's project data (collected by OpenAIRE on 2025-12-04); national funding data, not CORDIS. Abstract given by the source: In recent experiments with ultra-cold dipolar Bose gases as well as isotropic binary bosonic mixtures, a novel state of matter was discovered: Self-bound quantum droplets form out of a gaseous Bose-Einstein condensate, with atoms as intrinsically different as lanthanides and alkali metals. Being about 100 million times less dense than droplets of liquid helium, they are probably the most dilute liquids ever observed. Stabilized as a consequence of quantum fluctuations, this novel state of matter has very fascinating and unexpected properties, such as liquefaction by dimensional reduction, or the formation of filament-like states. It may be useful for improved interferometry or micron-sized fridges.We will theoretically explore this new form of self-bound, ultra-cold and ultra-dilute quantum matter using the extended Gross-Pitaevskii method including higher-order terms, or the coupled-clusters approach (depending on system sizes, interactions and dimensionality), as well as exact dynamical configuration-interaction calculations for smaller droplets in lower dimensions. Specifically, we study vortices as a hallmark of superfluidity in these droplets with focus on the interplay between collective excitations and atom loss processes. Synthetic (Rashba and Raman) spin-orbit coupling, also studied in the time domain, will affect shapes and stability of the droplets. We also study how a change of the effective dimensionality can control the quantum-liquefaction of the condensate.

Original source.

Source: OpenAIRE Graph: projects of national funders, OpenAIRE, from the project data of Swedish Research Council. Retrieved 2026-10-28. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (OpenAIRE Graph). Selected metadata, adapted presentation; the publisher's record is authoritative. No endorsement by the source is implied. Licence: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0).

AI-assisted summary: The project, funded by the Swedish Research Council with SEK 3,259,000, investigates ultra-cold dipolar Bose gases and the discovery of self-bound quantum droplets. It runs from January 1, 2019, to December 31, 2022, involving Lund University. Suggested technology pillar: enabling. Generated by AI from the public source text; it may contain errors and the original source is authoritative.