Sound speed of a Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice
Zhaoxin Liang, Xi Dong, Zhang Zhi-dong +1 more
The speed of sound of a Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice is studied both analytically and numerically in all spatial three dimensions. Our investigation shows that the sound speed depends strongly on the strength of the lattice. In the one-dimensional case, the speed of sound falls monotonically with increasing lattice strength. The dependence on lattice strength becomes much richer in two and three dimensions. In the two-dimensional case, when the interaction is weak, the sound speed first increases and then decreases as the lattice strength increases. For the three-dimensional lattice, the sound speed can even oscillate with the lattice strength. These rich behaviors can be understood in terms of compressibility and effective mass. Our analytical results in the limit of weak lattices also offer an interesting perspective to help with our understanding: they show that the lattice component perpendicular to the sound propagation increases the sound speed while the lattice component parallel to the propagation decreases the sound speed. The various dependences of the sound speed on the lattice strength are the result of this competition.
arXiv:0705.4322•Physical Review A•Aug 18, 2008•34 citations