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In an array of one-dimensional traps, we create impurities of K atoms immersed in reservoir of Rb atoms. The impurities are first localized by an external species-selective potential and then suddenly freed: their subsequent dynamics exhibits "breathing" oscillations, due to a weaker confining potential. We find that the amplitude of these oscillations is reduced when increasing the strength of the impurity-reservoir interaction, irrespective of its sign. We interpret our data with a polaric mass shift model derived following Feynman variational approach. J. Catani et al. |
Considering the hurdles of experiments with more than one atomic species, the temptation arises of rephrasing Arthur L. Schawlow: "Double-species Bose-Einstein condensates are condensates with one species too many". We think otherwise. Quantum mixtures allow the investigation of a wealth of genuinely quantum phenomena: mixed phases of superfluids and Mott insulators, impurities and polarons, chemistry at zero-temperature.