Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: We report on the formation of multiple quantum droplets in a heteronuclear ^{41}K-^{87}Rb mixture released in an optical waveguide. By a sudden change of the interspecies interaction from the noninteracting to the strongly attractive regime, we initially form a single droplet in an excited compression-elongation mode. The latter axially expands up to a critical length and then splits into two or more smaller fragments, recognizable as quantum droplets. We find that the number of formed droplets increases with decreasing interspecies attraction and increasing atom number. We show, by combining theory and experiment, that this behavior is consistent with capillary instability, which causes the breakup of the stretching droplet due to the surface tension. Our results open new possibilities to explore the properties of quantum liquids and systems of multiple quantum droplets in two-component bosonic mixtures.
Source: Physical Review Letters
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4408226404