Observation of the BKT Transition in a 2D Bose Gas via Matter-Wave Interferometry

Abstract: We probe local phase fluctuations of trapped two-dimensional (2D) Bose gases using matter-wave interferometry. This enables us to measure the phase correlation function, which changes from an algebraic to an exponential decay when the system crosses the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition. We determine the temperature dependence of the BKT exponent $\eta$ and find the critical value $\eta_c = 0.17(3)$ for our trapped system. Furthermore, we measure the local vortex density as a function of the local phase-space density, which shows a scale-invariant behaviour across the transition. Our experimental investigation is supported by Monte Carlo simulations and provides a comprehensive understanding of the BKT transition in a trapped system.