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arXiv:1207.7131 · Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical

Elastic scattering of a quantum matter-wave bright soliton on a barrier

Christoph Weiß, Yvan Castin

Published Oct 29, 2012• 15 citations
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Abstract

We consider a one-dimensional matter-wave bright soliton, corresponding to the ground bound state of N bosonic particles of mass m having a binary attractive delta potential interaction on the open line. For a full N -body quantum treatment, we derive several results for the scattering of this quantum soliton on a short-range, bounded from below, external potential, restricting to the low energy, elastic regime where the centre-of-mass kinetic energy of the incoming soliton is lower than the internal energy gap of the soliton, that is the minimal energy required to extract particles from the soliton.

DOI
10.1088/1751-8113/45/45/455306

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We consider a one-dimensional matter-wave bright soliton, corresponding to the ground bound state of N bosonic particles of mass m having a binary attractive delta potential interaction on the open line. For a full N -body quantum treatment, we derive several results for the scattering of this quantum soliton on a short-range, bounded from below, external potential, restricting to the low energy, elastic regime where the centre-of-mass kinetic energy of the incoming soliton is lower than the internal energy gap of the soliton, that is the minimal energy required to extract particles from the soliton.
The scattering of bright quantum solitons at barrier potentials in one-dimensional geometries is investigated. Such protocols have been predicted to lead to the creation of nonlocal quantum superpositions. The centre-of-mass motion of these bright matter-wave solitons generated from attractive Bose-Einstein condensates can be analysed with the effective potential approach. An application to the case of two particles being scattered at a delta potential allows analytical calculations not possible for higher particle numbers as well as a comparison with numerical results. Both for the dimer and a soliton with particle numbers on the order of N = 100, we investigate the signatures of the coherent superposition states in an interferometric setup and argue that experimentally an interference pattern would be particularly well observable in the centre-of-mass density. Quantum superposition states of ultra-cold atoms are interesting as input states for matter-wave interferometry as they could improve signal-to-noise ratios.
We discuss an interferometric scheme employing interference of bright solitons formed as specific bound states of attracting bosons on a lattice. We revisit the proposal of Castin and Weiss [Phys. Rev. Lett. vol. 102, 010403 (2009)] for using the scattering of a quantum matter-wave soliton on a barrier in order to create a coherent superposition state of the soliton being entirely to the left of the barrier and being entirely to the right of the barrier. In that proposal, it was assumed that the scattering is perfectly elastic, i.e. that the center-of-mass kinetic energy of the soliton is lower than the chemical potential of the soliton. Here we relax this assumption: By employing a combination of Bethe ansatz and DMRG-based analysis of the dynamics of the appropriate many-body system, we find that the interferometric fringes persist even when the center-of-mass kinetic energy of the soliton is above the energy needed for its complete dissociation into constituent atoms.
Scattering quantum bright solitons off barriers has been predicted to lead to nonlocal quantum superpositions, in particular the NOON state. The focus of this paper lies on signatures of both high- and low-fidelity quantum superposition states. We numerically demonstrate that a one-dimensional geometry with the barrier potential situated in the middle of an additional---experimentally typical---harmonic confinement gives rise to particularly well-observable signatures. In the elastic-scattering regime we investigate signatures of NOON states on the NNN-particle level within an effective potential approach. We show that removing the barrier potential and subsequently recombining both parts of the quantum superposition leads to a high-contrast interference pattern in the center-of-mass coordinate for narrow and broad potential barriers. We demonstrate that the presented signatures can be used to clearly distinguish quantum superposition states from statistical mixtures and are sufficiently robust against experimentally relevant excitations of the center-of-mass wave function to higher-lying oscillator states. For two-particle solitons we extend these considerations to low-fidelity superposition states: even for strong deviations from the two-particle NOON state we find interference patterns with high contrast.
We study bright solitons in the Gross-Pitaevskii equation as they are split and recombined in a low-energy system. We present analytic results determining the general region in which a soliton may not be split on a potential barrier and confirm these results numerically. Furthermore, we analyze the energetic regimes where quantum fluctuations in the initial center-of-mass position and momentum become influential on the outcome of soliton splitting and recombination events. We then use the results of this analysis to determine a parameter regime where soliton interferometry is practicable.
We model the dynamics of attractively interacting ultracold bosonic atoms in a quasi-one-dimensional wave guide with additional harmonic trapping. Initially, we prepare the system in its ground state and then shift the zero of the harmonic trap and switch on an additional narrow scattering potential near the center of the trap. After colliding with the barrier twice, we propose to measure the number of atoms opposite the initial condition. Quantum-enhanced interferometry with quantum bright solitons allows us to predict detection of an offset of the scattering potential with considerably increased precision as compared to single-particle experiments. In a future experimental realization this might lead to measurement of weak forces caused, for example, by small horizontal gradients in the gravitational potential---with a resolution of several micrometers given essentially by the size of the solitons. Our numerical simulations are based on the rigorously proved effective potential approach developed in previous papers [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 010403 (2009) and Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 210402 (2009)]. We choose our parameters such that the prerequisite of the proof (that the solitons cannot break apart, for energetic reasons) is always fulfilled, thus exploring a parameter regime inaccessible to the mean-field description via the Gross-Pitaevskii equation due to Schr\"odinger-cat states occurring in the many-particle quantum dynamics.
Abstract We study the interaction of an atomic dark–bright soliton in a two-component Bose–Einstein condensate with an impurity modeled by a delta function. In order to capture both elastic and inelastic scattering, we allow for relative oscillations between the dark and bright soliton components as well as higher order internal modes. Using a modified perturbed dynamical variational Lagrangian approximation, we develop an analytical model to capture motion of the center of the mass (elastic scattering) and dominant relative motion (inelastic). Numerical integration further incorporates higher order inelastic effects when the kinetic energy of the dark–bright soliton approaches the impurity energy. We calculate the maximum velocity for a dark–bright soliton and find it is limited to a value below the sound speed, depending on the relative number of atoms present in the bright soliton component and excavated by the dark soliton component, respectively. Above a critical value of the maximum velocity, the two components are no longer described by one center of mass variable and spontaneously develop internal oscillations, eventually breaking apart when pushed to higher velocities. This effect limits the incident kinetic energy in scattering studies and presents a smoking gun experimental signal.