First and second sound in a compressible 3D Bose fluid

Timon A. Hilker*, Lena H. Dogra, Christoph Eigen, Jake A.P. Glidden, Robert P. Smith, Zoran Hadzibabic

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The two-fluid model is fundamental for the description of superfluidity. In the nearly incompressible liquid regime, it successfully describes first and second sound, corresponding, respectively, to density and entropy waves, in both liquid helium and unitary Fermi gases. Here, we study the two sounds in the opposite regime of a highly compressible fluid, using an ultracold K39 Bose gas in a three-dimensional box trap. We excite the longest-wavelength mode of our homogeneous gas, and observe two distinct resonant oscillations below the critical temperature, of which only one persists above it. In a microscopic mode-structure analysis, we find agreement with the hydrodynamic theory, where first and second sound involve density oscillations dominated by, respectively, thermal and condensed atoms. Varying the interaction strength, we explore the crossover from hydrodynamic to collisionless behavior in a normal gas.

Original languageEnglish
Article number223601
Number of pages6
JournalPhysical Review Letters
Volume128
Issue number22
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Jun 2022

Keywords

  • bosons
  • density of gases
  • electron gas
  • fermions

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