No Arabic abstract
Two aspects of the transport of the repulsive Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a double-well trap are inspected: impact of the interatomic interaction and analogy to the Josephson effect. The analysis employs a numerical solution of 3D time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation for a total order parameter covering all the trap. The population transfer is driven by a time-dependent shift of a barrier separating the left and right wells. Sharp and soft profiles of the barrier velocity are tested. Evolution of the relevant characteristics, involving phase differences and currents, is inspected. It is shown that the repulsive interaction substantially supports the transfer making it possible i) in a wide velocity interval and ii) three orders of magnitude faster than in the ideal BEC. The transport can be approximately treated as the d.c. Josephson effect. A dual origin of the critical barrier velocity (break of adiabatic following and d.c.-a.c. transition) is discussed. Following the calculations, robustness of the transport (d.c.) crucially depends on the interaction and barrier velocity profile. Only soft profiles which minimize undesirable dipole oscillations are acceptable.
An inverse population transfer of the repulsive Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in a weakly bound double-well trap is explored within the 3D time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The model avoids numerous common approximations (two-mode treatment, time-space factorization, etc) and closely follows the conditions of Heidelberg experiments, thus providing a realistic description of BEC dynamics. The transfer is driven by a time-dependent shift of a barrier separating the left and right wells. It is shown that completeness and robustness of the process considerably depend on the amplitude and time profile of the shift velocity. Soft profiles provide the most robust inversion. The repulsive interaction substantially supports the transfer making it possible i) in a wide velocity interval and ii) three orders of magnitude faster than in the ideal BEC.
Dynamics of the double-well Bose-Einstein condensate subject to energy dissipation is studied by solving a reduced one-dimensional time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation numerically. We first reproduce the phase space diagram of the system without dissipation systematically, and then calculate evolutionary trajectories of dissipated systems. It is clearly shown that the dissipation can drive the system to evolve gradually from the $pi$-mode quantum macroscopic self-trapping state, a state with relatively higher energy, to the lowest energy stationary state in which particles distribute equally in the two wells. The average phase and phase distribution in each well are discussed as well. We show that the phase distribution varies slowly in each well but may exhibit abrupt changes near the barrier. This sudden change occurs at the minimum position in particle density profile. We also note that the average phase in each well varies much faster with time than the phase difference between two wells.
We compare and contrast the mean-field and many-body properties of a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in a double well potential with a single impurity atom. The mean-field solutions display a rich structure of bifurcations as parameters such as the boson-impurity interaction strength and the tilt between the two wells are varied. In particular, we study a pitchfork bifurcation in the lowest mean-field stationary solution which occurs when the boson-impurity interaction exceeds a critical magnitude. This bifurcation, which is present for both repulsive and attractive boson-impurity interactions, corresponds to the spontaneous formation of an imbalance in the number of particles between the two wells. If the boson-impurity interaction is large, the bifurcation is associated with the onset of a Schroedinger cat state in the many-body ground state. We calculate the coherence and number fluctuations between the two wells, and also the entanglement entropy between the bosons and the impurity. We find that the coherence can be greatly enhanced at the bifurcation.
A complete adiabatic transport of Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well trap is investigated within the Landau-Zener (LZ) and Gaussian Landau-Zener (GLZ) schemes for the case of a small nonlinearity, when the atomic interaction is weaker than the coupling. The schemes use the constant (LZ) and time-dependent Gaussian (GLZ) couplings. The mean field calculations show that LZ and GLZ suggest essentially different transport dynamics. Significant deviations from the case of a strong coupling are discussed.
We measure the oscillations of a standing wave of phonons in a Bose-Einstein condensate, thus obtaining the dispersion relation. We present the technique of short Bragg pulses, which stimulates the standing wave. The subsequent oscillations are observed in situ. It is seen that the phonons undergo a 3D to 1D transition, when their wavelength becomes longer than the transverse radius of the condensate. The 1D regime contains an inflection point in the dispersion relation, which should decrease the superfluid critical velocity according to the Landau criterion. The inflection point also represents a minimum in the group velocity, although the minimum is not deep enough to result in a roton. The 3D-1D transition also results in an increase in the lifetime of the standing-wave oscillations, and a breakdown of the local density approximation. In addition, the static structure factor is measured in the long-wavelength regime. The measurements are enabled by the high sensitivity of the new technique.