Researchers develop new method for detecting superfluid motion
Scientists hope the method leads to breakthroughs in sensing and
information processing

Date:
September 24, 2021
Source:
Rochester Institute of Technology
Summary:
Researchers are part of a new study that could help unlock the
potential of superfluids -- essentially frictionless special
substances capable of unstopped motion once initiated.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology are part of a
new study that could help unlock the potential of superfluids --
essentially frictionless special substances capable of unstopped motion
once initiated. A team of scientists led by Mishkat Bhattacharya, an
associate professor at RIT's School of Physics and Astronomy and Future
Photon Initiative, proposed a new method for detecting superfluid motion
in an article published in Physical Review Letters.


========================================================================== Scientists have previously created superfluids in liquids, solids,
and gases, and hope harnessing superfluids' properties could help
lead to discoveries such as a superconductor that works at room
temperature. Bhattacharya said such a discovery could revolutionize the electronics industry, where loss of energy due to resistive heating of
wires incurs major costs.

However, one of the main problems with studying superfluids is that all available methods of measuring the delicate superfluid rotation bring
the motion to a halt. Bhattacharya and his team of RIT postdoctoral
researchers teamed up with scientists in Japan, Taiwan, and India to
propose a new detection method that is minimally destructive, in situ,
and in real-time.

Bhattacharya said the techniques used to detect gravitational waves
predicted by Einstein inspired the new method. The basic idea is
to pass laser light through the rotating superfluid. The light that
emerged would then pick up a modulation at the frequency of superfluid rotation. Detecting this frequency in the light beam using existing
technology yielded knowledge of the superfluid motion. The challenge
was to ensure the laser beam did not disturb the superflow, which the
team accomplished by choosing a light wavelength different from any that
would be absorbed by the atoms.

"Our proposed method is the first to ensure minimally destructive
measurement and is a thousand times more sensitive than any available technique," said Bhattacharya. "This is a very exciting development, as
the combination of optics with atomic superflow promises entirely new possibilities for sensing and information processing." Bhattacharya
and his colleagues also showed that the light beam could actively
manipulate supercurrents. In particular, they showed that the light
could create quantum entanglement between two currents flowing in the
same gas. Such entanglement could be useful for storing and processing
quantum information.

Bhattacharya's theoretical team on the paper consisted of RIT
postdoctoral researchers Pardeep Kumar and Tushar Biswas, and alumnus
Kristian Feliz '21 (physics). The international collaborators consisted
of professors Rina Kanamoto from Meiji University, Ming-Shien Chang
from the Academia Sinica, and Anand Jha from the Indian Institute of Technology. Bhattacharya's work was supported by a CAREER Award from
the National Science Foundation.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by
Rochester_Institute_of_Technology. Original written by Luke Auburn. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Pardeep Kumar, Tushar Biswas, Kristian Feliz, Rina Kanamoto,
M.-S. Chang,
Anand K. Jha, M. Bhattacharya. Cavity Optomechanical Sensing and
Manipulation of an Atomic Persistent Current. Physical Review
Letters, 2021; 127 (11) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.127.113601 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/09/210924182536.htm

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