We present a theoretical model for Bragg scattering from a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in the vicinity of a magnetic Feshbach resonance, using a two c-field formalism, one c-field for the atom and the other for a molecule formed of two atoms. We use this model to numerically simulate a recent experiment [S. B. Papp et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 101(13):135301, Sep 2008] investigating the effects of strong interactions on the Bragg spectrum from a 85Rb BEC. Results from these simulations are in very good quantitative agreement with the experimental results, confirming the importance of the resonance bound state in the dynamics of the condensate for fast experiments like Bragg scattering.
We present a theoretical model for Bragg scattering from a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in the vicinity of a magnetic Feshbach resonance, using a two c-field formalism, one c-field for the atom and the other for a molecule formed of two atoms. We use this model to numerically simulate a recent experiment [S. B. Papp et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 101(13):135301, Sep 2008] investigating the effects of strong interactions on the Bragg spectrum from a 85Rb BEC. Results from these simulations are in very good quantitative agreement with the experimental results, confirming the importance of the resonance bound state in the dynamics of the condensate for fast experiments like Bragg scattering.
We present a theoretical model for Bragg scattering from a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in the vicinity of a magnetic Feshbach resonance, using a two-c-field formalism, one c field for the atom and the other for a molecule formed of two atoms. We use this model to numerically simulate an experiment [Papp et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 135301 (2008)] investigating the effects of strong interactions on the Bragg spectrum from a 85Rb BEC. Results from these simulations and from our previous calculations using an atom-molecule Bogoliubov approach are in very good quantitative agreement with the experimental results, confirming the importance of the resonance bound state in the dynamics of the condensate for fast experiments like Bragg scattering.
We formulate the basic theoretical methods for Bose-Einstein Condensation of atoms close to a Feshbach resonance, in which the tunable scattering length of the atoms is described using a system of coupled atom and molecule fields. These include the Thomas-Fermi description of the condensate profile, the c-field equations, and the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations, and the Bogoliubov excitation spectrum for a homogenous condensed system. We apply this formalism to the special case of Bragg scattering from a uniform condensate, and find that for moderate and large scattering lengths, there is a dramatic difference in the shift of the peak of the Bragg spectra, compared to that based on a structureless atom model. The result is compatible with the experimental results of Papp et al. [S. B. Papp et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 101(13):135301, Sep 2008].
We extend classical-field methods [Blakie et al., Adv. Phys. 57, 363 (2008)] to provide a description of atom-molecule systems. We use a model of Bose-Einstein condensation of atoms close to a Feshbach resonance, in which the tunable scattering length of the atoms is described using a system of coupled atom and molecule fields [Holland et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 1915 (2001)]. We formulate the basic theoretical methods for a coupled atom-molecule system, including the determination of the phenomenological parameters in our system, the Thomas-Fermi description of Bose-Einstein condensate, the Bogoliubov--de Gennes equations, and the Bogoliubov excitation spectrum for a homogenous condensed system. We apply this formalism to the special case of Bragg scattering from a uniform condensate and find that for moderate and large scattering lengths, there is a dramatic difference in the shift of the peak of the Bragg spectra, compared to that based on a structureless atom model. The result is compatible with the experimental results of Papp et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett 101, 135301 (2008)] for Bragg scattering from a nonuniform condensate.
With help of a Feshbach scattering resonance it is possible to change the effective two-body interaction of ultra-cold atoms from repulsive to attractive, from weak to strong. Regular field theory for the description of Bose-Einstein condensates is based on a single interaction parameter only, the scattering length. Such a description, however, is not valid anymore for the resonance regime. We formulated a field-theory that incorporated the microscopic energy-dependent two-body interactions, that also takes pair correlations into account. This theory allowed us to explain an experiment at JILA where Ramsey fringes were observed in a ^85Rb Bose-Einstein condensate by making use of a Feshbach resonance. The theory and experiment show that coherent molecules are created, a first step in the direction of molecular BEC. For non-resonant interactions, the self-energy corresponding to the atom-atom interactions is proportional to the scattering length. Close to resonance, however, this relationship no longer applies, and the energy will level off to a finite value on resonance. We investigate this resonance self-energy, and compare it with experimental results from strongly interacting Fermi systems.
Recently, effects of Feshbach resonances in atom-atom interactions were observed by varying the external magnetic field of an atomic Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). We point out that the quasi-bound molecules created in the intermediate state of the resonance can form a second, molecular condensate. The many-body state of the system is then a hybrid atomic/molecular condensate with inter-condensate tunneling of atom pairs. A sudden variation of the magnetic field results in oscillations of the number of atoms and molecules in their respective condensates, providing a signature of this novel type of quantum tunneling.
In experiments conducted recently at MIT on Na Bose-Einstein condensates [S. Inouye et al., Nature (London) 392, 151 (1998); J. Stenger et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 2422 (1999)], large loss rates were observed when a time-varying magnetic field was used to tune a molecular Feshbach resonance state near the state of a pair of atoms in the condensate. A collisional deactivation mechanism affecting a temporarily formed molecular condensate [see V. A. Yurovsky, A. Ben-Reuven, P. S. Julienne and C. J. Williams, Phys. Rev. A 60, R765 (1999)], studied here in more detail, accounts for the results of the slow-sweep experiments. A best fit to the MIT data yields a rate coefficient for deactivating atom-molecule collisions of $1.6\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}10} {\mathrm{cm}}^{3}/\mathrm{s}.$ In the case of the fast-sweep experiment, a study is carried out of the combined effect of two competing mechanisms, the three-atom (atom-molecule) or four-atom (molecule-molecule) collisional deactivation versus a process of two-atom trap-state excitation by curve crossing [F. H. Mies, P. S. Julienne, and E. Tiesinga, Phys. Rev. A 61, 022721 (2000)]. It is shown that both mechanisms contribute to the loss comparably and nonadditively.