Probing supersolidity through excitations in a spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensate

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chisholm, C. S.; Hirthe, S.; Makhalov, V. B.; Ramos, R.; Vatre, R.; Cabedo, J.; Celi, A.; Tarruell, L.
• 署名单位: Barcelona Institute of Science & Technology; Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya; Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques (ICFO); Autonomous University of Barcelona; ICREA
• 刊物名称: SCIENCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.adv1209
• 发表日期: 2026-01-29
• 页码: 480-484
• 关键词: quantum; phase

摘要

Spin-orbit-coupled Bose-Einstein condensates are a flexible experimental platform to engineer synthetic quantum many-body systems. In particular, they host the so-called stripe phase, an instance of a supersolid state of matter. The peculiar excitation spectrum of the stripe phase, a definite footprint of its supersolidity, has been difficult to measure experimentally. In this work, we performed in situ imaging of the stripes and directly observed both superfluid and crystal excitations. We investigated superfluid hydrodynamics and revealed a stripe compression mode, thus demonstrating that the system possesses a compressible crystalline structure. Through the frequency softening of this mode, we located the supersolid transition point. Our results establish spin-orbit-coupled supersolids as ideal systems to investigate supersolidity and its rich dynamics.