Dynamical stabilisation of a quantum fluid using a single topological defect
Abstract
The size and shape of a quantum fluid in equilibrium is strongly influenced by the inter-particle interactions. In the attractive interaction regime, atomic quantum fluids ultimately collapse in a violent process that expels most of the particles from the macroscopically occupied state. Here, we use a quantum fluid of light in propagating geometry as an analogue to a two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with large attractive interactions to show that non-trivial topology significantly alters the dynamical behaviour of the collapse, enhancing the BEC stability and delaying the collapse time by an order of magnitude. We measure direct experimental signatures of topology affecting quantum hydrodynamics, unveiling the inherent competition between attractive nonlinearities, that lead to the collapse, and the preservation of topological charge from a multi-charged vortex. We fully characterise the collapse process in coordinate space and the eventual `solitonification' of the system and connect it to the mode structure of the excitation spectrum.
Related
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BibTeX
@misc{capecchi2026dynamical,
title = {{Dynamical stabilisation of a quantum fluid using a single topological defect}},
author = {Deborah Capecchi and Paolo Comaron and Antonio Gianfrate and Milena De Giorgi and Dario Ballarini and Daniele Sanvitto and Franco Dalfovo and Dimitrios Trypogeorgos},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.02643},
eprint = {2609.02643},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.02643},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Dynamical stabilisation of a quantum fluid using a single topological defect
AU - Deborah Capecchi
AU - Paolo Comaron
AU - Antonio Gianfrate
AU - Milena De Giorgi
AU - Dario Ballarini
AU - Daniele Sanvitto
AU - Franco Dalfovo
AU - Dimitrios Trypogeorgos
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/02
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.02643
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.02643
AB - The size and shape of a quantum fluid in equilibrium is strongly influenced by the inter-particle interactions. In the attractive interaction regime, atomic quantum fluids ultimately collapse in a violent process that expels most of the particles from the macroscopically occupied state. Here, we use a quantum fluid of light in propagating geometry as an analogue to a two-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) with large attractive interactions to show that non-trivial topology significantly alters the dynamical behaviour of the collapse, enhancing the BEC stability and delaying the collapse time by an order of magnitude. We measure direct experimental signatures of topology affecting quantum hydrodynamics, unveiling the inherent competition between attractive nonlinearities, that lead to the collapse, and the preservation of topological charge from a multi-charged vortex. We fully characterise the collapse process in coordinate space and the eventual `solitonification' of the system and connect it to the mode structure of the excitation spectrum.
ER -