Francesco Minardi

Prof. Francesco Minardi

1. Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, CNR-INO, Via G. Sansone 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy
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orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

33Years (1994-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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3 August 2001 in Science
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Journal Article
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FCF. S. Cataliotti
F. S. Cataliotti
SBSven Burger
Sven Burger
CFC. Fort
C. Fort
PMPasquale Maddaloni
Pasquale Maddaloni
Francesco MinardiFrancesco Minardi
Francesco Minardi
MIM. Inguscio
M. Inguscio
We report on the direct observation of an oscillating atomic current in a one-dimensional array of Josephson junctions realized with an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate. The array is created by a laser standing wave, with the condensates trapped in the valleys of the periodic potential and weakly coupled by the interwell barriers. The coherence of multiple tunneling between adjacent wells is continuously probed by atomic interference. The square of the small-amplitude oscillation frequency is proportional to the microscopic tunneling rate of each condensate through the barriers and provides a direct measurement of the Josephson critical current as a function of the intermediate barrier heights. Our superfluid array may allow investigation of phenomena so far inaccessible to superconducting Josephson junctions and lays a bridge between the condensate dynamics and the physics of discrete nonlinear media.

17 February 2012 in Physical Review A
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jacopo catanijacopo catani
jacopo catani
GLG. Lamporesi
G. Lamporesi
DND. Naik
D. Naik
MGM. Gring
M. Gring
MIMassimo Inguscio
Massimo Inguscio
TGT. Giamarchi
T. Giamarchi
Using a species-selective dipole potential, we create initially localized impurities and investigate their interactions with a majority species of bosonic atoms in a one-dimensional configuration during expansion. We find an interaction-dependent amplitude reduction of the oscillation of the impurities' size with no measurable frequency shift, and study it as a function of the interaction strength. We discuss possible theoretical interpretations of the data. We compare, in particular, with a polaronic mass shift model derived following Feynman variational approach.

29 May 2008 in Physical Review Letters
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GTGregor Thalhammer
Gregor Thalhammer
GBG. Barontini
G. Barontini
LSL. De Sarlo
L. De Sarlo
jacopo catanijacopo catani
jacopo catani
Francesco MinardiFrancesco Minardi
Francesco Minardi
MIM. Inguscio
M. Inguscio
We produce Bose-Einstein condensates of two different species, Rb87 and K41, in an optical dipole trap in proximity of interspecies Feshbach resonances. We discover and characterize two Feshbach resonances, located around 35 and 79 G, by observing the three-body losses and the elastic cross section. The narrower resonance is exploited to create a double species condensate with tunable interactions. Our system opens the way to the exploration of double species Mott insulators and, more in general, of the quantum phase diagram of the two-species Bose-Hubbard model.

6 December 2019 in Physical Review Research
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CDChiara D'Errico
Chiara D'Errico
ABAlessia Burchianti
Alessia Burchianti
MPM. Prevedelli
M. Prevedelli
Luca SalasnichLuca Salasnich
Luca Salasnich
FAF. Ancilotto
F. Ancilotto
CFC. Fort
C. Fort
We report on the formation of heteronuclear quantum droplets in an attractive bosonic mixture of K41 and Rb87. We observe long-lived self-bound states, both in free space and in an optical waveguide. In the latter case, the dynamics under the effect of a species-dependent force confirms their bound nature. By tuning the interactions from the weakly to the strongly attractive regime, we study the transition from expanding to localized states, in both geometries. We compare the experimental results with beyond-mean-field theory and we find good agreement in the full range of explored interactions. Our findings provide access to the production of long-lived droplets with important implications for further research.

14 May 2001 in Physical Review Letters
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SBSven Burger
Sven Burger
FCF. S. Cataliotti
F. S. Cataliotti
CFC. Fort
C. Fort
Francesco MinardiFrancesco Minardi
Francesco Minardi
MIMassimo Inguscio
Massimo Inguscio
MTM. P. Tosi
M. P. Tosi
We create Bose-Einstein condensates of 87Rb in a static magnetic trap with a superimposed blue-detuned 1D optical lattice. By displacing the magnetic trap center we are able to control the condensate evolution. We observe a change in the frequency of the center-of-mass oscillation in the harmonic trapping potential, in analogy with an increase in effective mass. For fluid velocities greater than a local speed of sound, we observe the onset of dissipative processes up to full removal of the superfluid component. A parallel simulation study visualizes the dynamics of the Bose-Einstein condensate and accounts for the main features of the observed behavior.

24 January 2008 in Physical Review A
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jacopo catanijacopo catani
jacopo catani
LSL. De Sarlo
L. De Sarlo
GBG. Barontini
G. Barontini
Francesco MinardiFrancesco Minardi
Francesco Minardi
MIMassimo Inguscio
Massimo Inguscio
We produce a heteronuclear quantum degenerate mixture of two bosonic species, Rb87 and K41, in a three-dimensional optical lattice. On raising the lattice barriers, we observe the disappearance of the inference pattern of the heavier Rb87, shifting toward shallower lattice depths in the presence of a minor fraction of K41. This effect is sizable and requires only a marginal overlap between the two species. We compare our results with similar findings reported for Fermi-Bose mixtures and discuss the interpretation scenarios proposed to date, arguing that the explanation may be linked to the increased effective mass due to the interspecies interactions.