A new form of liquid matter: Quantum droplets

Abstract

This brief review summarizes recent theoretical and experimental results which predict and establish the existence of quantum droplets (QDs), i.e., robust two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) self-trapped states in Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs), which are stabilized by effective self-repulsion induced by quantum fluctuations around the mean-field (MF) states [alias the Lee-Huang-Yang (LHY) effect]. The basic models are presented, taking special care of the dimension crossover, 2D → 3D. Recently reported experimental results, which exhibit stable 3D and quasi-2D QDs in binary BECs, with the inter-component attraction slightly exceeding the MF self-repulsion in each component, and in single-component condensates of atoms carrying permanent magnetic moments, are presented in some detail. The summary of theoretical results is focused, chiefly, on 3D and quasi-2D QDs with embedded vorticity, as the possibility to stabilize such states is a remarkable prediction. Stable vortex states are presented both for QDs in free space, and for singular but physically relevant 2D modes pulled to the center by the inverse-square potential, with the quantum collapse suppressed by the LHY effect.