Phase dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates: Losses versus revivals

In the absence of losses the phase of a Bose-Einstein condensate undergoes collapses and revivals in time due to elastic atomic interactions. As experiments necessarily involve inelastic collisions, we develop a model to describe the phase dynamics of the condensates in presence of collisional losses. We find that a few inelastic processes are sufficient to damp the revivals of the phase. For this reason the observability of phase revivals for present experimental conditions is limited to condensates with a few hundreds of atoms. Received: 23 February 1998 / Revised: 21 July 1998 / Accepted: 23 July 1998     

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     

Bose-Einstein condensation in interacting gases

We study the occurrence of a Bose-Einstein transition in a dilute gas with repulsive interactions, starting from temperatures above the transition temperature. The formalism, based on the use of Ursell operators, allows us to evaluate the one-particle density operator with more flexibility than in mean-field theories, since it does not necessarily coincide with that of an ideal gas with adjustable parameters (chemical potential, etc.). In a first step, a simple approximation is used (Ursell-Dyson approximation), which allow us to recover results which are similar to those of the usual mean-field theories. In a second step, a more precise treatment of the correlations and velocity dependence of the populations in the system is elaborated. This introduces new physical effects, such as a change of the velocity profile just above the transition: the proportion of atoms with low velocities is higher than in an ideal gas. A consequence of this distortion is an increase of the critical temperature (at constant density) of the Bose gas, in agreement with those of recent path integral Monte-Carlo calculations for hard spheres. Received 13 November 1998     

Fully quantum mechanical moment of inertia of a mesoscopic ideal Bose gas

The superfluid fraction of an atomic cloud is defined using the cloud's response to a rotation of the external potential, i.e. the moment of inertia. A fully quantum mechanical calculation of this moment is based on the dispersion of L_z instead of quasi-classical averages. In this paper we derive analytical results for the moment of inertia of a small number of non-interacting Bosons using the canonical ensemble. The required symmetrized averages are obtained via a representation of the partition function by permutation cycles. Our results are useful to discriminate purely quantum statistical effects from interaction effects in studies of superfluidity and phase transitions in finite samples. Received 30 June 2000     

Quantum corrections to the energy density of a homogeneous Bose gas

Quantum corrections to the properties of a homogeneous interacting Bose gas at zero temperature can be calculated as a low-density expansion in powers of , where is the number density and a is the S-wave scattering length. We calculate the ground state energy density to second order in . The coefficient of the correction has a logarithmic term that was calculated in 1959. We present the first calculation of the constant under the logarithm. The constant depends not only on a, but also on an extra parameter that describes the low energy scattering of the bosons. In the case of alkali atoms, we argue that the second order quantum correction is dominated by the logarithmic term, where the argument of the logarithm is ,and is the length scale set by the van der Waals potential. Received 2 February 1999     

Ground state and vortex states of bosons in an anisotropic trap: A variational approach

We propose a simple variational form of the wave function to describe the ground state and vortex states of a weakly interacting Bose gas in an anisotropic trap. The proposed wave function is valid for a wide range of the particle numbers in the trap. It also works well in the case of attractive interaction between the atoms. Further, it provides an easy and fast method to calculate the physical quantities of interest. The results compare very well with those obtained by purely numerical techniques. Using our wave function we have been able to verify, for the first time, the predicted behaviour of the aspect ratio. Received 7 December 1998 and Received in final form 4 February 1999     

Splitting between quadrupole modes of dilute quantum gas in a two-dimensional anisotropic trap

We consider quadrupole excitations of quasi-two-dimensional interacting quantum gas in an anisotropic harmonic oscillator potential at zero temperature. Using the time-dependent variational approach, we calculate a few low-lying collective excitation frequencies of a two-dimensional anisotropic Bose gas. Within the energy weighted sum-rule approach, we derive a general dispersion relation of two quadrupole excitations of a two-dimensional deformed trapped quantum gas. This dispersion relation is valid for both statistics. We show that the quadrupole excitation frequencies obtained from both methods are exactly the same. Using this general dispersion relation, we also calculate the quadrupole frequencies of a two-dimensional unpolarized Fermi gas in an anisotropic trap. For both cases, we obtain analytic expressions for the quadrupole frequencies and the splitting between them for arbitrary value of trap deformation. This splitting decreases with increasing interaction strength for both statistics. For a two-dimensional anisotropic Fermi gas, the two quadrupole frequencies and the splitting between them become independent of the particle number within the Thomas-Fermi approach. Received 21 September 2001 and Received in final form 9 December 2001     

Mean field loops versus quantum anti-crossing nets in trapped Bose-Einstein condensates

We study a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in an asymmetric double well potential. Solutions of the time-independent Gross-Pitaevskii equation reveal intrinsic loops in the energy (or chemical potential) level behavior when the shape of the potential is varied. We investigate the corresponding behavior of the quantum (many-body) energy levels. Applying the two-mode approximation to the bosonic field operators, we show that the quantum energy levels create an anti-crossing net inside the region bounded by the loop of the mean field solution. Received 6 March 2002 / Received in final form 19 September 2002 Published online 15 November 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: smerzi@cnls.lanl.gov     

Bose-Einstein transition in a dilute interacting gas

We study the effects of repulsive interactions on the critical density for the Bose-Einstein transition in a homogeneous dilute gas of bosons. First, we point out that the simple mean field approximation produces no change in the critical density, or critical temperature, and discuss the inadequacies of various contradictory results in the literature. Then, both within the frameworks of Ursell operators and of Green's functions, we derive self-consistent equations that include correlations in the system and predict the change of the critical density. We argue that the dominant contribution to this change can be obtained within classical field theory and show that the lowest order correction introduced by interactions is linear in the scattering length, a, with a positive coefficient. Finally, we calculate this coefficient within various approximations, and compare with various recent numerical estimates. Received 15 July 2001     

Evaporative cooling of an atomic beam

We present a theoretical analysis of the evaporative cooling of an atomic beam propagating in a magnetic guide. Cooling is provided by transverse evaporation. The atomic dynamics inside the guide is analyzed by solving the Boltzmann equation with two different approaches: an approximate analytical ansatz and a Monte-Carlo simulation. Within their domain of validity, these two methods are found to be in very good agreement with each other. They allow us to determine how the phase-space density and the flux of the beam vary along its direction of propagation. We find a significant increase for the phase-space density along the guide for realistic experimental parameters. By extrapolation, we estimate the length of the beam needed to reach quantum degeneracy. Received 24 September 1999     

Thermodynamics of Bose-condensed atomic hydrogen

We study the thermodynamics of the Bose-condensed atomic hydrogen confined in the Ioffe-Pritchard potential. Such a trapping potential, that models the magnetic trap used in recent experiments with hydrogen, is anharmonic and strongly anisotropic. We calculate the ground-state properties, the condensed and non-condensed fraction and the Bose-Einstein transition temperature. The thermodynamics of the system is strongly affected by the anharmonicity of this external trap. Finally, we consider the possibility to detect Josephson-like currents by creating a double-well barrier with a laser beam. Received 15 February 2000     

Coherent population trapping of Bose-Einstein condensates: Detection of phase diffusion

Two Bose-Einstein condensates in different Zeeman sublevels can be decoupled from driving light fields in coherent population trapping. A condensate pair with a deterministic entanglement and a controllable value of the relative phase may be prepared by selecting the phase difference between the coherent light fields. The rate of the condensate phase diffusion may be determined from the two-photon resonant absorption of radiation. Received: 29 June 1998 / Revised: 10 October 1998 / Accepted: 19 October 1998     

Bose-Einstein condensates with a bent vortex in rotating traps

We consider a 3D dilute Bose-Einstein condensate at thermal equilibrium in a rotating harmonic trap. The condensate wavefunction is a local minimum of the Gross-Pitaevskii energy functional and we determine it numerically with the very efficient conjugate gradient method. For single vortex configurations in a cigar-shaped harmonic trap we find that the vortex line is bent, in agreement with the numerical prediction of Garcia-Ripoll and Perez-Garcia [Phys. Rev. A 63, 041603 (2001)]. We derive a simple energy functional for the vortex line in a cigar-shaped condensate which allows to understand physically why the vortex line bends and to predict analytically the minimal rotation frequency required to stabilize the bent vortex line. This analytical prediction is in excellent agreement with the numerical results. It also allows to find in a simple way a saddle point of the energy, where the vortex line is in a stationary configuration in the rotating frame but not a local minimum of energy. Finally we investigate numerically the effect of thermal fluctuations on the vortex line for a condensate with a straight vortex: we can predict what happens in a single realization of the experiment by a Monte Carlo sampling of an atomic field quasi-distribution function of the density operator of the gas at thermal equilibrium in the Bogoliubov approximation. Received 28 March 2002 / Received in final form 13 September 2002 Published online 21 January 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: yvan.castin@lkb.ens.fr     

Bose-Einstein condensates with vortices in rotating traps

We investigate minimal energy solutions with vortices for an interacting Bose-Einstein condensate in a rotating trap. The atoms are strongly confined along the axis of rotation z, leading to an effective 2D situation in the x-y plane. We first use a simple numerical algorithm converging to local minima of energy. Inspired by the numerical results we present a variational ansatz in the regime where the interaction energy per particle is stronger than the quantum of vibration in the harmonic trap in the x-y plane, the so-called Thomas-Fermi regime. This ansatz allows an easy calculation of the energy of the vortices as function of the rotation frequency of the trap; it gives a physical understanding of the stabilisation of vortices by rotation of the trap and of the spatial arrangement of vortex cores. We also present analytical results concerning the possibility of detecting vortices by a time-of-flight measurement or by interference effects. In the final section we give numerical results for a 3D configuration. Received 16 December 1998 and Received in final form 18 March 1999     

Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices: Spontaneous emission in the presence of photonic band gaps

An extended Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in an optical lattice provides a kind of periodic dielectric and causes band gaps to occur in the spectrum of light propagating through it. We examine the question whether these band gaps can modify the spontaneous emission rate of atoms excited from the BEC, and whether they can lead to a self-stabilization of the BEC against spontaneous emission. We find that self-stabilization is not possible for BECs with a density in the order of 10¹⁴ cm^-3. However, the corresponding non-Markovian behavior produces significant effects in the decay of excited atoms even for a homogeneous BEC interacting with a weak laser beam. These effects are caused by the occurrence of an avoided crossing in the photon (or rather polariton) spectrum. We also predict a new channel for spontaneous decay which arises from an interference between periodically excited atoms and periodic photon modes. This new channel should also occur in ordinary periodic dielectrics. Received 27 March 2000     

Instanton approach to Josephson tunneling between trapped condensates

An instanton method is proposed to investigate the quantum tunneling between two weakly-linked Bose-Einstein condensates confined in double-well potential traps. We point out some intrinsic pathologies in the earlier treatments of other authors and make an effort to go beyond these very simple zero order models. The tunneling amplitude may be calculated in the Thomas-Fermi approximation and beyond it; we find it depends on the number of the trapped atoms, through the chemical potential. Some suggestions are given for the observation of the Josephson oscillation and the MQST. Received 29 June 2001 and Received in final form 17 September 2001     

Damping and frequency shift in the oscillations of two colliding Bose-Einstein condensates

We have investigated the center-of-mass oscillations of a ⁸⁷Rb Bose-Einstein condensate in an elongated magneto-static trap. We start from a trapped condensate and we transfer part of the atoms to another trapped level, by applying a radio-frequency pulse. The new condensate is produced far from its equilibrium position in the magnetic potential, and periodically collides with the parent condensate. We discuss how both the damping and the frequency shift of the oscillations are affected by the mutual interaction between the two condensates, in a wide range of trapping frequencies. The experimental data are compared with the prediction of a mean-field model. Received 28 May 2001     

Correlation functions for a Bose-Einstein condensate in the Bogoliubov approximation

In this article we introduce a differential equation for the first order correlation function G ⁽¹⁾ of a Bose-Einstein condensate at T = 0. The Bogoliubov approximation is used. Our approach points out directly the dependence on the physical parameters. Furthermore it suggests a numerical method to calculate G ⁽¹⁾ without solving an eigenvector problem. The G ⁽¹⁾ equation is generalized to the case of non zero temperature. Received 20 September 2000     

Basis-dependent dynamics of trapped Bose-Einstein condensates and analogies with semi-classical laser theory

We present a consistent second order perturbation theory for the lowest-lying condensed modes of very small, weakly-interacting Bose-Einstein condensates in terms of bare particle eigenstates in a harmonic trap. After presenting our general approach, we focus on explicit expressions for a simple three-level system, mainly in order to discuss the analogy of a single condensate occupying two modes of a trap with the semi-classical theory for two-mode photon lasers. A subsequent renormalization of the single-particle energies to include the dressing imposed by mean fields demonstrates clearly the consistency of our treatment with other kinetic approaches. Received 14 December 2001