Quantum Droplets in Imbalanced Atomic Mixtures

TL;DR

This paper explores the properties and dynamics of quantum droplets in imbalanced two-component Bose gases, revealing how imbalance affects their stability, energy, and collective oscillations, extending understanding beyond balanced systems.

Contribution

It investigates spherical quantum droplets in imbalanced mixtures, analyzing their stability, energy limits, and collective breathing modes, which was not previously studied in detail.

Findings

Droplets can lower energy with imbalance until saturation.

Imbalance causes superposition of multiple decaying oscillations.

Droplets emit particles during breathing mode oscillations.

Abstract

Quantum droplets are a quantum analogue to classical fluid droplets in that they are self-bound and display liquid-like properties -- such as incompressibility and surface tension -- though their stability is the result of quantum fluctuations. One of the major systems for observing quantum droplets is two-component Bose gases. Two-component droplets are typically considered to be balanced, having a fixed ratio between the densities of the two component. This work goes beyond the fixed density ratio by investigating spherical droplets in imbalanced mixtures. With increasing imbalance, the droplet is able to lower its energy up to a limit, at which point the droplet becomes saturated with the atoms of the majority component and any further atoms added to this component cannot bind to the droplet. Analysing the breathing mode dynamics of imbalanced droplets indicates that the droplet can emit particles, as in balanced mixtures, but the imbalance leads to an intricate superposition of multiple simultaneously decaying collective oscillations.