Ground-state phase diagram of a dipolar condensate with quantum fluctuations

TL;DR

This paper investigates the phase diagram of a dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate considering quantum fluctuations, revealing a transition from a low-density condensate to a high-density droplet state stabilized by quantum effects.

Contribution

The authors develop a variational approach to map the phase diagram of dipolar condensates, validated against numerical solutions, and relate findings to experimental systems.

Findings

Identification of a phase transition between condensate and droplet states

Quantum fluctuations stabilize high-density droplet phases

Phase diagram tailored to dysprosium and erbium condensates

Abstract

We consider the ground state properties of a trapped dipolar condensate under the influence of quantum fluctuations. We show that this system can undergo a phase transition from a low density condensate state to a high density droplet state, which is stabilized by quantum fluctuations. The energetically favored state depends on the geometry of the confining potential, the number of atoms and the two-body interactions. We develop a simple variational ansatz and validate it against full numerical solutions. We produce a phase diagram for the system and present results relevant to current experiments with dysprosium and erbium condensates.