Observing the Rosensweig instability of a quantum ferrofluid

Ferrofluids exhibit unusual hydrodynamic effects owing to the magnetic nature of their constituents. As magnetization increases, a classical ferrofluid undergoes a Rosensweig instability(1) and creates self-organized, ordered surface structures(2) or droplet crystals(3). Quantum ferrofluids such as Bose-Einstein condensates with strong dipolar interactions also display superfluidity(4). The field of dipolar quantum gases is motivated by the search for new phases of matter that break continuous symmetries(5,6). The simultaneous breaking of continuous symmetries such as the phase invariance in a superfluid state and the translational symmetry in a crystal provides the basis for these new states of matter. However, interaction-induced crystallization in a superfluid has not yet been observed. Here we use in situ imaging to directly observe the spontaneous transition from an unstructured superfluid to an ordered arrangement of droplets in an atomic dysprosium Bose-Einstein condensate(7). By using a Feshbach resonance to control the interparticle interactions, we induce a finite-wavelength instability(8) and observe discrete droplets in a triangular structure, the number of which grows as the number of atoms increases. We find that these structured states are surprisingly long-lived and observe hysteretic behaviour, which is typical for a crystallization process and in close analogy to the Rosensweig instability. Our system exhibits both superfluidity and, as we show here, spontaneous translational symmetry breaking. Although our observations do not probe superfluidity in the structured states, if the droplets establish a common phase via weak links, then our system is a very good candidate for a supersolid ground state(9-11).