Observing the loss and revival of long-range phase coherence through disorder quenches

Abstract

Significance Understanding the combined effects of disorder and interactions in quantum many-body systems is a key topic of condensed matter physics. While most studies have considered a static disorder, here we investigate the relaxation dynamics of a three-dimensional Bose–Einstein condensate after switching on or off an optical disorder potential. We study, experimentally and numerically, the transient and steady-state atomic density distribution and the ability of the gas to hydrodynamically expand, directly reflecting long-range phase coherence. We find that, when the gas is exposed to disorder, long-range phase coherence breaks down one order of magnitude faster than the density distribution responds. In the opposite case, surprisingly, long-range coherence takes two orders of magnitude longer times to revive than the density relaxation.