Scientists at NIST have observed hysteresis in a superfluid Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) for the first time. Hysteresis is a property where a system’s state depends on its history rather than just its current conditions. The researchers created a toroidal BEC containing 400,000 ultracold sodium atoms and stirred it into superfluid rotation using a green laser beam. They found that the flow velocity in the BEC ring is quantized and can be controlled abruptly at a critical value.
This controllability is important for developing “atomtronic” devices where information is stored in atomic properties rather than electrical charge states. Such devices could potentially be used for inertial sensors, magnetometers, and other practical applications. The research builds on previous work by the same team that observed quantized rotation in a toroidal BEC and identified ways to place the system in a desired quantum state.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/news-events/news/2014/02/hysteresis-quantized-bec-superfluid
Keywords: Hysteresis, Superfluid, Quantum state, BEC, Atomtronics
