Quantum quench and non-equilibrium dynamics in lattice-confined spinor condensates

Abstract

We present an experimental study on non-equilibrium dynamics of a spinor condensate after it is quenched across a superfluid to Mott insulator (MI) phase transition in cubic lattices. Intricate dynamics consisting of spin-mixing oscillations at multiple frequencies are observed in time evolutions of the spinor condensate localized in deep lattices after the quantum quench. Similar spin dynamics also appear after spinor gases in the MI phase are suddenly moved away from their ground states via quenching magnetic fields. We confirm these observed spectra of spin-mixing dynamics can be utilized to reveal atom number distributions of an inhomogeneous system, and to study transitions from two-body to many-body dynamics. Our data also imply the non-equilibrium dynamics depend weakly on the quench speed but strongly on the lattice potential. This enables precise measurements of the spin-dependent interaction, a key parameter determining the spinor physics.