Mark Hoefer

Dispersive and classical shock waves in Bose-Einstein condensates and gas dynamics

A Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is a quantum fluid that gives rise to interesting shock-wave nonlinear dynamics. Experiments depict a BEC that exhibits behavior similar to that of a shock wave in a compressible gas, e.g., traveling fronts with steep gradients. However, the governing Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation that describes the mean field of a BEC admits no dissipation, hence classical dissipative shock solutions do not explain the phenomena. Instead, wave dynamics with small dispersion is considered and it is shown that this provides a mechanism for the generation of a dispersive shock wave (DSW). Computations with the GP equation are compared to experiment with excellent agreement. A comparison between a canonical one-dimensional (1D) dissipative and dispersive shock problem shows significant differences in shock structure and shock-front speed. Numerical results associated with the three-dimensional experiment show that three- and two-dimensional approximations are in excellent agreement and 1D approximations are in good qualitative agreement. Using 1D DSW theory, it is argued that the experimentally observed blast waves may be viewed as dispersive shock waves.

Theory for a dissipative droplet soliton excited by a spin torque nanocontact

A distinct type of solitary wave is predicted to form in spin torque oscillators when the free layer has a sufficiently large perpendicular anisotropy. In this structure, which is a dissipative version of the conservative droplet soliton originally studied in 1977 by Ivanov and Kosevich, spin torque counteracts the damping that would otherwise destroy the mode. Asymptotic methods are used to derive conditions on perpendicular anisotropy strength and applied current under which a dissipative droplet can be nucleated and sustained. Numerical methods are used to confirm the stability of the droplet against various perturbations that are likely in experiments, including tilting of the applied field, nonzero spin torque asymmetry, and nontrivial Oersted fields. Under certain conditions, the droplet experiences a drift instability in which it propagates away from the nanocontact and is then destroyed by damping.

Dispersive shock waves and modulation theory

There is growing physical and mathematical interest in the hydrodynamics of dissipationless/dispersive media. Since G.B. Whitham’s seminal publication fifty years ago that ushered in the mathematical study of dispersive hydrodynamics, there has been a significant body of work in this area. However, there has been no comprehensive survey of the field of dispersive hydrodynamics. Utilizing Whitham’s averaging theory as the primary mathematical tool, we review the rich mathematical developments over the past fifty years with an emphasis on physical applications. The fundamental, large scale, coherent excitation in dispersive hydrodynamic systems is an expanding, oscillatory dispersive shock wave or DSW. Both the macroscopic and microscopic properties of DSWs are analyzed in detail within the context of the universal, integrable, and foundational models for uni-directional (Korteweg–de Vries equation) and bi-directional (Nonlinear Schrodinger equation) dispersive hydrodynamics. A DSW fitting procedure that does not rely upon integrable structure yet reveals important macroscopic DSW properties is described. DSW theory is then applied to a number of physical applications: superfluids, nonlinear optics, geophysics, and fluid dynamics. Finally, we survey some of the more recent developments including non-classical DSWs, DSW interactions, DSWs in perturbed and inhomogeneous environments, and two-dimensional, oblique DSWs.

Formation of Dispersive Shock Waves by Merging and Splitting Bose-Einstein Condensates

The processes of merging and splitting dilute-gas Bose-Einstein condensates are studied in the nonadiabatic, high-density regime. Rich dynamics are found. Depending on the experimental parameters, uniform soliton trains containing more than ten solitons or the formation of a high-density bulge as well as dispersive shock waves are observed experimentally within merged BECs. Our numerical simulations indicate the formation of many vortex rings. In the case of splitting a BEC, the transition from sound-wave formation to dispersive shock-wave formation is studied by use of increasingly stronger splitting barriers. These experiments realize prototypical dispersive shock situations.

Theory of magnetodynamics induced by spin torque in perpendicularly magnetized thin films.

A nonlinear model of spin-wave excitation using a point contact in a thin ferromagnetic film is introduced. Large-amplitude magnetic solitary waves are computed, which help explain recent spin-torque experiments. Numerical simulations of the fully nonlinear model predict excitation frequencies in excess of 0.2 THz for contact diameters smaller than 6 nm. Simulations also predict a saturation and redshift of the frequency at currents large enough to invert the magnetization under the point contact. The theory is approximated by a cubic complex Ginzburg-Landau type equation. The modes nonlinear frequency shift is found by use of perturbation techniques, whose results agree with those of direct numerical simulations.

Model for a collimated spin-wave beam generated by a single-layer spin torque nanocontact

A model of spin-torque-induced magnetization dynamics based on semiclassical spin diffusion theory for a single-layer nanocontact is presented. The model incorporates effects due to the current-induced Oersted field and predicts the generation of a variety of spatially dependent, coherent, precessional magnetic wave structures. Directionally controllable collimated spin-wave beams, vortex spiral waves, and localized standing waves are found to be excited by the interplay of the Oersted field and the orientation of an applied field. These fields act as a spin-wave “corral” around the nanocontact that controls the propagation of spin waves in certain directions.

Propagation and control of nanoscale magnetic-droplet solitons

The propagation and controlled manipulation of strongly nonlinear, two-dimensional solitonic states in a thin, anisotropic ferromagnet are theoretically demonstrated. It has been recently proposed that spin-polarized currents in a nanocontact device could be used to nucleate a stationary dissipative droplet soliton. Here, an external magnetic field is introduced to accelerate and control the propagation of the soliton in a lossy medium. Soliton perturbation theory corroborated by two-dimensional micromagnetic simulations predicts several intriguing physical effects, including the acceleration of a stationary soliton by a magnetic field gradient, the stabilization of a stationary droplet by a uniform control field in the absence of spin torque, and the ability to control the solitons speed by use of a time-varying, spatially uniform external field. Soliton propagation distances approach 10

Dispersive and Diffusive-Dispersive Shock Waves for Nonconvex Conservation Laws

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Defect Modes and Homogenization of Periodic Schrödinger Operators

m in low loss media, suggesting that droplet solitons could be viable information carriers in future spintronic applications, analogous to optical solitons in fiber optic communications.

Confined Dissipative Droplet Solitons in Spin-Valve Nanowires with Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy

We consider two physically and mathematically distinct regularization mechanisms of scalar hyperbolic conservation laws. When the flux is convex, the combination of diffusion and dispersion is known to give rise to monotonic and oscillatory traveling waves that approximate shock waves. The zero-diffusion limits of these traveling waves are dynamically expanding dispersive shock waves (DSWs). A richer set of wave solutions can be found when the flux is nonconvex. This review compares the structure of solutions of Riemann problems for a conservation law with nonconvex, cubic flux regularized by two different mechanisms: (1) dispersion in the modified Korteweg--de Vries (mKdV) equation; and (2) a combination of diffusion and dispersion in the mKdV--Burgers equation. In the first case, the possible dynamics involve two qualitatively different types of DSWs, rarefaction waves (RWs), and kinks (monotonic fronts). In the second case, in addition to RWs, there are traveling wave solutions approximating both class...