Quantum transport through a Tonks-Girardeau gas

TL;DR

This paper studies how spin impurity atoms move through a strongly interacting one-dimensional Bose gas, revealing complex non-equilibrium dynamics and dissipation effects.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of impurity propagation and interaction effects in a Tonks-Girardeau gas under an applied force.

Findings

Observation of large density fluctuations in the Bose gas

Impurity motion exhibits multiple scattering and dissipation

Complex non-equilibrium dynamics of impurity propagation

Abstract

We investigate the propagation of spin impurity atoms through a strongly interacting one-dimensional Bose gas. The initially well localized impurities are accelerated by a constant force, very much analogous to electrons subject to a bias voltage, and propagate as a one-dimensional impurity spin wave packet. We follow the motion of the impurities in situ and characterize the interaction induced dynamics. We observe a very complex non-equilibrium dynamics, including the emergence of large density fluctuations in the remaining Bose gas, and multiple scattering events leading to dissipation of the impurity's motion.