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arXiv:1109.5591 · Physical Review A

Phase slippage and self-trapping in a self-induced bosonic Josephson junction

Marta Abad, M. Guilleumas, R. Mayol, Martí Pi, Dora M. Jezek

Published Sep 6, 2011• 42 citations
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Abstract

A dipolar condensate confined in a toroidal trap constitutes a self-induced Josephson junction when the dipoles are oriented perpendicularly to the trap symmetry axis and the $s$-wave scattering length is small enough. The ring-shaped double-well potential coming from the anisotropic character of the mean-field dipolar interaction is robust enough to sustain self-trapping dynamics, which takes place when the initial population imbalance between the two wells is large. We show that, in this system, the self-trapping regime is directly related to a vortex-induced phase-slip dynamics. A vortex and antivortex are spontaneously nucleated in the low-density regions before a minimum of the population imbalance is reached and then cross the toroidal section in opposite directions through the junctions. This vortex dynamics yields a phase slip between the two weakly linked condensates causing an inversion of the particle flux.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.84.035601

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A dipolar condensate confined in a toroidal trap constitutes a self-induced Josephson junction when the dipoles are oriented perpendicularly to the trap symmetry axis and the sss-wave scattering length is small enough. The ring-shaped double-well potential coming from the anisotropic character of the mean-field dipolar interaction is robust enough to sustain self-trapping dynamics, which takes place when the initial population imbalance between the two wells is large. We show that, in this system, the self-trapping regime is directly related to a vortex-induced phase-slip dynamics. A vortex and antivortex are spontaneously nucleated in the low-density regions before a minimum of the population imbalance is reached and then cross the toroidal section in opposite directions through the junctions. This vortex dynamics yields a phase slip between the two weakly linked condensates causing an inversion of the particle flux.
We propose a new scheme for observing Josephson oscillations and macroscopic quantum self-trapping in a toroidally confined Bose-Einstein condensate: a dipolar self-induced Josephson junction. Polarizing the atoms perpendicularly to the trap symmetry axis, an effective ring-shaped, double-well potential is achieved which is induced by the dipolar interaction. By numerically solving the three-dimensional time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation we show that coherent tunneling phenomena such as Josephson oscillations and quantum self-trapping can take place. The dynamics in the self-induced junction can be qualitatively described by a two-mode model taking into account both s -wave and dipolar interactions.
We propose a new scheme for observing Josephson oscillations and macroscopic quantum self-trapping in a toroidally confined Bose-Einstein condensate: a dipolar self-induced Josephson junction. Polarizing the atoms perpendicularly to the trap symmetry axis, an effective ring-shaped, double-well potential is achieved which is induced by the dipolar interaction. By numerically solving the three-dimensional time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation we show that coherent tunneling phenomena such as Josephson oscillations and quantum self-trapping can take place. The dynamics in the self-induced junction can be qualitatively described by a two-mode model taking into account both s-wave and dipolar interactions. © 2011 Europhysics Letters Association.
We study the relation between Josephson dynamics and topological excitations in a dilute Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a double-well trap. We show that the phase slips responsible for the self-trapping regime are created by vortex rings entering and annihilating inside the weak-link region or created at the center of the barrier and expanding outside the system. Large amplitude oscillations just before the onset of self-trapping are also strictly connected with the dynamics of vortex rings at the edges of the inter-well barrier. Our results extend and analyze the dynamics of the vortex-induced phase slippages suggested a few decades ago in relation to the "ac" Josephson effect of superconducting and superfluid helium systems.
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We study the Josephson oscillation and self-trapping dynamics of a cigar-shaped dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate of 52{}^{52}52Cr atoms polarized along the symmetry axis of an axially symmetric double-well potential using the numerical solution of a mean-field model, for dominating repulsive contact interaction (large positive scattering length aaa) over an anisotropic dipolar interaction. Josephson-type oscillation emerges for small and very large numbers of atoms, whereas self-trapping is noted for an intermediate number of atoms. The dipolar interaction pushes the system away from self-trapping towards Josephson oscillation. We consider a simple two-mode description for a qualitative understanding of the dynamics.
In this thesis, I present the first experimental implementation of a Josephson junction for Bose-Einstein condensates. The weak link between two BECs constitutes the nonlinear generalization of the well known Josephson junction of weakly-coupled superconductors that are separated by a thin insulating barrier. In our experiment, the required overlap of two macroscopic wavefunctions is provided by loading a BEC into an optical double well potential. It is realized by a superposition of a one-dimensional optical lattice with a focused laser beam optical dipole trap. The tunneling dynamics between the two potential wells exhibits two distinct dynamical regimes. For small initial population imbalances of the two wells we observe nearly sinusoidal Josephson tunneling oscillations, which are characterized by an oscillating population and relative phase. The situation changes drastically, if the initial population imbalance is chosen above a critical value. In this case, resonant tunneling between the two wells is prohibited because the difference between the on-site particle interaction energies in the two wells exceeds the tunneling energy splitting. As a consequence, the atomic distribution becomes self-locked and the relative phase evolves unbound in time. This regime of prohibited tunneling, which has no analogon in superconducting Josephson junctions, is called “macroscopic quantum self-trapping”.