Coherent state approach to the cross-collisional effects in the population dynamics of a two-mode Bose–Einstein condensate

We reanalyze the non-linear population dynamics of a Bose–Einstein condensate (BEC) in a double well trap considering a semiclassical approach based on a time dependent variational principle applied to coherent states associated to SU(2) group. Employing a two-mode local approximation and hard sphere type interaction, we show in the Schwinger’s pseudo-spin language the occurrence of a fixed point bifurcation that originates a separatrix of motion on a sphere. This separatrix corresponds to the borderline between two dynamical regimes of Josephson oscillations and mesoscopic self-trapping. We also consider the effects of interaction between particles in different wells, known as cross-collisions. Such terms are usually neglected for traps sufficiently far apart, but recently it has been shown that they contribute to the effective tunneling constant with a factor growing linearly with the particle number. This effect changes considerably the effective tunneling of the system for sufficiently large number of trapped atoms, in perfect accord with experimental data. Finally, we identify analytically the transition parameter associated to the bifurcation in the generalized phase space of the model with cross-collision terms, and show how the dynamical regime depends on the initial conditions of the system and the collisional parameters values.     

Dynamics and thermodynamics in spinor quantum gases

We discuss magnetism in spinor quantum gases theoretically and experimentally with emphasis on temporal dynamics of the spinor order parameter in the presence of an external magnetic field. In a simple coupled Gross–Pitaevskii picture we observe a dramatic suppression of spin dynamics due to quadratic Zeeman dephasing. In view of an inhomogeneous density profile of the trapped condensate we present evidence of spatial variations of spin dynamics. In addition we study spinor quantum gases as a model system for thermodynamics of Bose–Einstein condensation. As a particular example we present measurements on condensate magnetisation due to the interaction with a thermal bath. PACS 03.75.Mn; 03.75.Fi; 34.50.Pi     

Spin current in a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate induced by a gradient magnetic field

We develop a research of spin currents in a ²³Na spinor Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) by applying a magnetic field gradient. The spin current is successfully induced by the spin-dependent force arising from the magnetic field gradient. The dynamics of the spin components under the magnetic force is investigated. The study is promising to be extended to produce a longer spin-coherence and to enhance the sensitivity of the spin-mixing interferometry in a spinor BEC.     

Collective spin tunneling in spinor Bose-Einstein condensates

We investigate a novel aspect of rotational tunneling of the macroscopic spin for multicomponent spinor Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). The Lagrangian is deduced from the multi-component BEC system formalism, and is written in terms of spin coherent states. From the effective Hamiltonian for the collective spin, the tunneling rate is obtained through a functional integral of the spin variable. It is pointed out that the cooperative effect between the Zeeman energy and the anisotropic nature of the spin-dependent inter-atomic interaction plays a key role for occurrence of collective spin tunneling.     

The effect of measurement on the quantum features of a chaotic system

We investigate the quantum dynamics of a periodically kicked nonlinear spin system which exhibits regular and chaotic dynamics in the classical regime. The quantum behaviour is characterised by the evolving eigenvalue distributions for the angular momentum components and the features, including recurrences in the quantum means and the presence of quantum tunneling, are discussed. We employ the evolution operator eigenvalue distribution to prove that coherent quantum tunneling occurs between the fixed points in the regular regions of phase space. Continual quantum measurement is included in the model: the classical dynamics are unchanged but a destruction of coherences occurs in the quantum system. Recurrences in the means are destroyed and quantum tunneling is suppressed by measurement, a manifestation of the quantum Zeno effect.     

Decay of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a dissipative lattice – the mean-field approximation and beyond

The dynamical evolution of a Bose-Einstein condensate in an open optical lattice is studied. Based on the Bose-Hubbard model we rederive the mean-field limit for the case of an environmental coupling including dissipation and phase-noise. Moreover, we include the next order correlation functions to investigate the dynamical behavior beyond mean field. We observe that particle loss can lead to surprising dynamics, as it can suppress decay and at the same time restore the coherence of the condensate. These behavior can be used to engineer the evolution, e.g. in the form of a stochastic resonance-like response, to inhibit tunneling or to create stable nonlinear structures of the condensate.     

Tunneling Dynamics of Two-Species Molecular Bose-Einstein Condensates

We study tunneling dynamics of atomic group in two-species molecular Bose-Einstein condensates. It is shown that the tunneling of the atom group depends on not only the tunneling coupling constant between the atomic pair molecular condensate and the three-atomic group molecular condensate, but also the inter-molecular nonlinear interactions and the initial number of atoms in these condensates. It is discovered that besides oscillating tunneling current between the atomic pair molecular condensate and the three-atomic group molecular condensate, the nonlinear atomic group tunneling dynamics sustains a self-maintained population imbalance: a macroscopic quantum self-trapping effect.     

Tunneling Dynamics of Two-Species Bose-Einstein Condensates with Feshbach Resonances

We investigate tunneling dynamics of atomic group consisting of three atoms in Bose-Einstein condensates with Feshbach resonance. It is shown that the tunneling of the atom group depends not only on the inter-atomic nonlinear interactions and the initial number of atoms in these condensates, but also on the tunneling coupling between the atomic condensate and the three-atomic molecular condensate. It is found that besides oscillating tunneling current between the atomic condensate and the molecular condensate, the nonlinear atomic group tunneling dynamics sustains a self-maintained population imbalance: a macroscopic quantum self-trapping effect. The influence of de-coherence caused by non-condensate atoms on the tunneling dynamics is studied. It is indicated that de-coherence suppresses the atomic group tunneling.     

Spin dynamics of a vortical condensate of exciton polaritons in a GaAs microcavity

The temporal dynamics of a spinor exciton-polariton condensate in a high-quality anisotropic GaAs microcavity under pulsed resonant excitation with light possessing a nonzero orbital angular momentum is investigated. The phenomenon of spatial separation of the spin components of the polariton condensate upon pumping with a coherent superposition of two beams with opposite circular polarizations and orbital angular momenta is observed. The key factors for the observation of this effect are the lateral anisotropy of the microcavity that causes a splitting between the linear components of the polariton ground state and the occurrence of opposite orbital angular momenta for the two spin components of the condensate. The experimental results are in qualitative agreement with the theoretical model of the phenomenon developed in JETP Lett. 104, 827 (2016).     

Observation of topologically stable 2D Skyrmions in an antiferromagnetic spinor Bose-Einstein condensate

We present the creation and time evolution of two-dimensional Skyrmion excitations in an antiferromagnetic spinor Bose-Einstein condensate. Using a spin rotation method, the Skyrmion spin textures were imprinted on a sodium condensate in a polar phase, where the two-dimensional Skyrmion is topologically protected. The Skyrmion was observed to be stable on a short time scale of a few tens of ms but to dynamically deform its shape and eventually decay to a uniform spin texture. The deformed spin textures reveal that the decay dynamics involves breaking the polar phase inside the condensate without having topological charge density flow through the boundary of the finite-sized sample. We discuss the possible formation of half-quantum vortices in the deformation process.     

Coherent dynamics of domain formation in the Bose ferromagnet

We present a theory to describe domain formation observed very recently in a quenched 87Rb gas, a typical ferromagnetic spinor Bose system. An overlap factor is introduced to characterize the symmetry breaking of MF=+/-1 components for the F=1 ferromagnetic condensate. We demonstrate that the domain formation is a coeffect of the quantum coherence and the thermal relaxation. A thermally enhanced quantum oscillation is observed during the dynamical process of the domain formation. And the spatial separation of domains leads to significant decay of the MF=0 component fraction in an initial MF=0 condensate.     

Tunneling Dynamics of Two-Species Bose-Einstein Condensates with Feshbach Resonances

We investigate tunneling dynamics of atomic group consisting of three atoms in Bose-Einstein condensateswith Feshbach resonance. It is shown that the tunneling of the atom group depends not only on the inter-atomicnonlinear interactions and the initial number of atoms in these condensates, but also on the tunneling coupling betweenthe atomic condensate and the three-atomic molecular condensate. It is found that besides oscillating tunneling currentbetween the atomic condensate and the molecular condensate, the nonlinear atomic group tunneling dynamics sustains aself-maintained population imbalance: a macroscopic quantum self-trapping effect. The influence of de-coherence causedby non-condensate atoms on the tunneling dynamics is studied. It is indicated that de-coherence suppresses the atomicgroup tunneling.     

Dynamics of a Spinor Exciton–Polariton System in Laterally Strained GaAs Microcavities under Resonant Photoexcitation

The evolution of the spatial coherence and the polarization has been studied in a freely decaying polariton condensate that is resonantly excited by linearly polarized picosecond laser pulses at the lower and upper sublevels of the lower polariton branch in a high-Q GaAs-based microcavity with a reduced lateral symmetry without excitation of the exciton reservoir. It is found that the condensate inherits the coherence of the exciting laser pulse at both sublevels in a wide range of excitation densities and retains it for several dozen picoseconds. The linear polarization of the photoexcited condensate is retained only in the condensate at the lower sublevel. The linearly polarized condensate excited at the upper sublevel loses its stability at the excitation densities higher a threshold value: it enters a regime of internal Josephson oscillations with strongly oscillating circular and diagonal linear degrees of polarization. The polariton–polariton interaction leads to the nonlinear Josephson effects at high condensate densities. All the effects are well described in terms of the spinor Gross–Pitaevskii equations. The cause of the polarization instability of the condensate is shown to be the spin anisotropy of the polariton–polariton interaction.     

The non-Abelian bosonic quantum ring

We investigate the dynamics of a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate which is governed by an optically induced non-Abelian gauge potential. Using a ring shaped trap to confine the atoms and a hydrodynamic ansatz, nonlinear Josephson type equations are found to describe the system. The degenerate eigenstates which show rotation are solved exactly. We consider a homogenous filled ring and observe population dynamics between the two quasi-spin components but also space dependent Josephson oscillations. Stable mass currents can be observed which are induced by the constant non-Abelian effective magnetic field in the limit of weak interactions. For strong interactions the appearance of two-component dark soliton-like objects are observed.     

Effect of quantum fluctuations on the dipolar motion of bose-einstein condensates in optical lattices

We reexamine dipolar motion of condensate atoms in one-dimensional optical lattices and harmonic magnetic traps including quantum fluctuations within the truncated Wigner approximation. In the strong tunneling limit we reproduce the mean field results with a sharp dynamical transition at the critical displacement. When the tunneling is reduced, on the contrary, strong quantum fluctuations lead to finite damping of condensate oscillations even at infinitesimal displacement. We argue that there is a smooth crossover between the chaotic classical transition at finite displacement and the superfluid-to-insulator phase transition at zero displacement. We further analyze the time dependence of the density fluctuations and of the coherence of the condensate and find several nontrivial dynamical effects, which can be observed in the present experimental conditions.     

Macroscopic spin tunneling and quantum critical behavior of a condensate in a double-well potential

In a previous work [H. Pu, W. Zhang, and P. Meystre, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 140405 (2001)]], we have shown that a spinor condensate confined in a periodic or double-well potential exhibits ferromagnetic behavior due to the magnetic dipole-dipole interactions between different wells, and in the absence of external magnetic field, the ground state has a twofold degeneracy. In this work, we demonstrate the possibility of observing macroscopic quantum spin tunneling between these two degenerate states and show how the tunneling rate critically depends on the strength of the transverse field.     

偶极-偶极相互作用下双势阱中旋量玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚磁化率的非线性动力学性质

利用平均场理论和单空间模近似，研究了偶极-偶极相互作用下双势阱中总自旋F=1的旋量玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚磁化率的非线性动力学性质.在给定的初态条件下，研究结果表明：当λ_A+2λ_d=0时，凝聚体只表现为磁化振荡行为；当λ_A+2λ_d≠0时，凝聚体既存在磁化振荡行为，又存在磁自陷俘现象. 关键词： 玻色-爱因斯坦凝聚 自旋 磁化率     

Interaction of $F=2$ Spinor Bose Condensate with Driven External Magnetic Fields

We have studied the interaction of $F=2$ spinor Bose condensate with a combination of static and sinusoidal magnetic field $b_l(t)=b_0+b\cos(\omega t)$. We find that the tunneling current among spin 0 and spin $\pm1$, spin 0 and spin $\pm2$, spin $\pm1$ and spin $\pm2$ may exhibit the incremental oscillation behavior, which depends on the field parameters of the reduced amplitudes of the transverse and the longitudinal magnetic fields respectively. This means that the dynamics spin localization can be adjusted experimentally by selecting the less values of the reduced amplitudes of the transverse magnetic field $b_x/\omega$ and those of the longitudinal magnetic field $b/\omega$.