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.     

Ground-state and Josephson dynamics of double-well condensates interacting with trap oscillations

In the present paper, it is shown that the interaction between classical anharmonic oscillations of a trapped condensate and excited Josephson states corresponding to a large enough initial imbalance of particle number generates their equilibrium bound state. The dynamics of the system are determined by the self-consistent oscillations of the initial imbalance of the particle number and condensate shape. The existence of the bound state implies that the Josephson states can be detected by observing the change of the condensate shape.     

Nonlinear dynamics of a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well potential

We examine the nonlinear dynamical behavior of a spinor Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well potential. Considering a condensate with large number of atoms, such that it can be described using the mean field theory, we separate the spinor dynamics from the spatial dynamics under the single-mode approximation. We limit ourselves to certain initial conditions under which the spatial mode is frozen so that we can focus on the spinor dynamics only. Identifying collective spin variables of our system, we derive the corresponding nonlinear equations of motion for them. Employing standard stability analysis, we find and characterize fixed points of the system. For a wide range of physical parameters such as tunneling strength and non-linear interactions, as well as for various initial preparations of the system, we identify qualitatively different dynamical regimes possible in the system. In particular, complete and incomplete oscillations of spin variables between quantum wells are found. We also show that by bringing some fixed points close to each other in the phase space of the system, it is possible to induce amplitude modulation to those otherwise regular tunneling oscillations.     

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.     

Classical bifurcation at the transition from Rabi to Josephson dynamics

We report on the experimental demonstration of the internal bosonic Josephson effect in a rubidium spinor Bose-Einstein condensate. The measurement of the full time dynamics in phase space allows the characterization of the theoretically predicted π-phase modes and quantitatively confirms analytical predictions, revealing a classical bifurcation. Our results suggest that this system is a model system which can be tuned from classical to the quantum regime and thus is an important step towards the experimental investigation of entanglement generation close to critical points.     

Dynamics of a tunable superfluid junction

We study the population dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well potential throughout the crossover from Josephson dynamics to hydrodynamics. At barriers higher than the chemical potential, we observe slow oscillations well described by a Josephson model. In the limit of low barriers, the fundamental frequency agrees with a simple hydrodynamic model, but we also observe a second, higher frequency. A full numerical simulation of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation giving the frequencies and amplitudes of the observed modes between these two limits is compared to the data and is used to understand the origin of the higher mode. Implications for trapped matter-wave interferometers are discussed.     

Macroscopic oscillations between two weakly coupled Bose-Einstein condensates

We demonstrate, both from a theoretical and an experimental point of view, the possibility of realizing a weak coupling between two Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in different Zeeman states. The weak coupling drives macroscopic quantum oscillations between the condensate populations and the observed current-phase dynamics is described by generalized Josephson equations. In order to highlight the superfluid nature of the oscillations, we investigate the response of a ⁸⁷Rb non-condensate (thermal) gas in the same conditions, showing that the thermal oscillations damp more quickly than those of the condensate. Received 2 May 2002 / Received in final form 19 November 2002 Published online 6 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: smerzi@sissa.it     

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     

Driving defect modes of Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices

We present an approximate analytical theory and direct numerical computation of defect modes of a Bose-Einstein condensate loaded in an optical lattice and subject to an additional localized (defect) potential. Some of the modes are found to be remarkably stable and can be driven along the lattice by means of a defect moving following a steplike function defined by the period of Josephson oscillations and the macroscopic stability of the atoms.     

Dynamics of Bec Mixtures Loaded into the Optical Lattice in the Presence of Linear Inter-Component Coupling

We consider dynamics of a two-component Bose–Einstein condensate, where the components correspond to different hyperfine states of the same sort of atoms. External microwave radiation leads to resonant transitions between the states. The condensate is loaded into the optical lattice. We invoke the tight-binding approximation and examine the interplay of spatial and internal dynamics of the mixture. We show that internal dynamics qualitatively depends on the intra-component interaction strength and the phase configuration of the initial state. We focus attention on two intriguing phenomena occurring at certain values of the parameters. The first phenomenon is the spontaneous synchronization of Rabi oscillations running inside neighboring lattice sites. The other one is demixing of the condensate with formation of immiscible solitons at sufficiently strong nonlinearity. Demixing is preceded by the transient regime with highly irregular behavior of the mixture.     

Complex quantum gases: spinor Bose–Einstein condensates of trapped atomic vapors

We discuss the energy eigenstates, ground and spin mixing dynamics of a spin-1 spinor Bose–Einstein condensate for a dilute atomic vapor confined in an optical trap. Our results go beyond the mean field picture and are developed within a fully quantized framework.     

Excitations in a nonequilibrium Bose-Einstein condensate of exciton polaritons

We develop a mean-field theory of the dynamics of a nonequilibrium Bose-Einstein condensate of exciton polaritons in a semiconductor microcavity. The spectrum of elementary excitations around the stationary state is analytically studied by means of a generalized Gross-Pitaevskii equation. A diffusive behavior of the Goldstone mode is found in the spatially homogeneous case and new features are predicted for the Josephson effect in a two-well geometry.     

Dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates in a one-dimensional optical lattice with double-well potential

We study dynamical behaviors of the weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensate in the one-dimensional optical lattice with an overall double-well potential by solving the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation. It is observed that the double-well potential dominates the dynamics of such a system even if the lattice depth is several times larger than the height of the double-well potential. This result suggests that the condensate flows without resistance in the periodic lattice just like the case of a single particle moving in periodic potentials. Nevertheless, the effective mass of atoms is increased, which can be experimentally verified since it is connected to the Josephson oscillation frequency. Moreover, the periodic lattice enhances the nonlinearity of the double-well condensate, making the condensate more “self-trapped” in the π-mode self-trapping regime.     

Dynamics of texture for spinor condensates

We study a dynamics of texture for a two-component spinor bose condensate. This is carried out by adopting a time dependent Landau-Ginzburg Lagrangian for a spinor order parameter. By using a polar form of the spinor order parameter, we obtain a field equation for the texture. In particular we consider a one dimensional model in which we can obtain analytic forms for the textures in terms of elliptic functions of several kinds. We find that these solutions are characterized by a modulus parameter, and changes in this parameter cause structural changes of texture.