The non-linear Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation plays an important role in the mean-field theory of the Bose-Einstein condensation and has interesting mathematical properties. In this lecture we consider two nontrivial problems related to physical interpretation of the solutions of the GP equation: the superfluidity of a BEC gas in an optical lattice and the superfluidity of a 1D Bose-gas, with special attention to the role of grey solitons. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
The non-linear Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation plays an important role in the mean-field theory of the Bose-Einstein condensation and has interesting mathematical properties. In this lecture we consider two nontrivial problems related to physical interpretation of the solutions of the GP equation: the superfluidity of a BEC gas in an optical lattice and the superfluidity of a 1D Bose-gas, with special attention to the role of grey solitons. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is a new state of matter, experimentally realized in a dilute alkali gas of weakly interacting bosons. The gas is cooled to very low temperatures, of the order of nano-Kelvin, at which point a large fraction of the atoms occupy the lowest quantum state. Under such conditions, the quantum effects become apparent on a macroscopic scale. Many fundamental ideas
of quantum mechanics have been realized and proven to be true in experiments,
by studying the Bose-Einstein condensates. Amongst them, the observation of
macroscopic matter wave interference, the creation of vortices, dark and bright
solitons etc, find special mention. The dynamics of this system in presence of an
optical lattice reveals a superfluid to Mott insulator quantum phase transition.
This has opened a new avenue for research on BEC and its applications. From
a theoretical standpoint, the dynamics of BEC can be described by means of an
effective mean-field theory. This formalism is much simpler than the many-body
Schr¨odinger equation and based on a classical nonlinear evolution equation, known
as Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The nonlinear nature of the GPE leads to several interesting phenomena like soliton propagation, vortices, four wave mixing etc.,
which are closely related to nonlinear fiber optics.
The present thesis deals with nonlinear excitations and different phases of BEC
and is organized as follows: after a brief introduction, in chapter two, we start
with BEC in a one-dimensional shallow optical lattice, experiencing both cubic
and quintic nonlinearity. A superfluid density wave, of twice the periodicity of
lattice potential, is identified. This indicates matter redistribution, where atoms
from neighbouring sites have been depleted leading to a density wave behaviour.
Interestingly, it ceases to exist when only one of these interactions is operative.
We predict the loss of superfluidity through a classical dynamical phase transition,
where modulational instability leads to the loss of phase coherence. In presence
of pure two-body interaction, the superfluid density shows a periodicity commensurate
with the lattice potential. Apart from the superfluid state, a density wave
insulating phase is also found to exist, possessing two frequency modulations commensurate
with the lattice potential. A dynamical phase transition connects the
superfluid phase with an insulating phase, which in turn, is connected with the
density wave insulating phase. The solutions are found to be marginally stable, as
per the Vakhitov-Kolokolov (VK) criterion.
Chapter three describes the dynamics of the atomic-molecular Bose-Einstein
condensate (AMBEC) by mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE), taking into
account the atom-molecular interaction, as well as atom-molecule inter-conversion.
The two-body atom-atom, atom-molecule and molecule-molecule interactions are
analogous to the cubic nonlinearity of the standard GPE, whereas, the quadratic
nonlinear term arising from the inter-conversion between atoms and molecules is
identical to the scenario in strongly coupled BEC in one dimension. The presence
of both weak and strong interactions adds further richness to this system. We
find the molecular BEC possesses a complex dark (grey) soliton, while the atomic condensate is a bright one. The energy and momentum of this system is computed
in order to see the effect of the both weak and strong interactions on Lieb mode
profile and compare it with the pure atomic condensate profile. Another class
of solutions exist in this system, where both atomic and molecular condensates
possess bright solitons.
In chapter four, we investigate the effect of a harmonic trap on the dynamics
of grey solitons in Bose-Einstein condensates. It is observed that, these nonlinear
excitations of the cigar-shaped Bose-Einstein condensate have strong coupling
with the trap at low momenta and hence can be effectively isolated from the
Bogoliubov sound modes, which respond weakly to harmonic confinement. This
strong coupling with the trap also makes the grey soliton amenable for control and
manipulation through trap modulation and temporal variation of the two-body interaction.
We have shown that in presence of an expulsive oscillator trap, the grey
soliton gets amplified, while having a compression in its width. Exact solutions are
also obtained in case of the two component Bose-Einstein condensates (TBECs),
where one component is a grey soliton and the other a bright one. The presence
of the trap and inter-species interaction significantly affects the grey soliton dynamics.
Similar to the single component, in the present case, we have shown that
both grey and bright soliton can be compressed simultaneously. A detailed study
of the energy and momentum of the soliton is reported, in order to find the effect
of the trap on the Lieb mode.
In chapter five, we study a BEC-defect complex in a quasi-one dimensional
scenario, where the defect atom moves in the condensate with constant velocity.
Explicit solutions of the coupled mean-field equations, describing defect-grey soliton
dynamics are obtained, demonstrating the coexistence of grey soliton and a
localized defect. Unlike the case of dark soliton, where the defect trapping center
has vanishing superfluid density, the moving grey soliton necessarily possesses a finite superfluid component at the defect location. The presence of the defect can
lower the grey soliton’s maximum velocity, as compared to the defect free case,
where the maximum velocity is the sound velocity. We have also carried out the
stability analysis of the obtained solutions using renormalized momentum formalism
and Vakhitov-Kolokolov criteria and find that the obtained solutions are stable
through both the methods. The grey soliton’s energy gets substantially modified
through its interaction with the defect, opening up the possibility of its control
through defect dynamics.
Chapter six describes a parametrically forced Bose-Einstein condensate in the
presence of a general moving optical lattice. The interaction between the atoms in
the condensate and the time dependent lattice potential leads to a novel propagating
superfluid matter wave, which can be controlled through chirp management.
This system, when placed in a trap, accelerates and undergoes rapid nonlinear
compression, controlled by the chirp. The density achieves its maximum, when
the matter wave changes direction. It is also shown that this system exhibits dynamical
superfluid insulator transition, where superfluidity breaks down and the
condensate transits to an insulating phase. The stability has been investigated
using Vakhitov-Kolokolov criterion and found that it depends on the chirp, as well
as on the nature of the atom-atom interaction. The exact expression for energy
is obtained and analyzed in detail to gain physical understanding of the chirp
management of the sinusoidal excitations and also the dynamical phase transition.
Bose–Einstein Condensation (BEC) of atomic gases has attracted a renewed theoretical and experimental interest in quantum many-body systems at extremely low temperatures (Pethick & Smith; 2002). This excitement stems from two favorable features: (1) by applying magnetic fields and lasers, most of the system parameters, such as the shape, dimensionality, internal states of the condensates, and even the strength of the interatomic interactions, are controllable; (2) due to the diluteness, the mean-field theory explains experiments quite well. In particular, the Gross–Pitaevskii (GP) equation demonstrates its validity as a basic equation for the condensate dynamics. The GP equation is the counterpart of the nonlinear Schrodinger (NLS) equation in nonlinear optics. Thus, a study based on nonlinear analysis is possible and important. In nonlinear physics, a soliton is remarkable object not only for the fact that exact solutions can be obtained but also for its usefulness as a communications tool due to its robustness. In general, solitons are formed under the balance between nonlinearity and dispersion. For atomic condensates, the former is attributed to the interatomic interactions, while the latter comes from the kinetic energy. Either dark or bright solitons are allowable depending on the positive or negative sign of the interatomic coupling constants g, respectively, and indeed have been observed in a quasione-dimensional (q1D) optically constructed waveguide (Strecker et al.; 2002) (Khaykovich et al.; 2002). Such matter-wave solitons are expected in atom optics for applications in atom laser, atom interferometry, and coherent atom transport (Meystre; 2002). In this chapter, we extend the analysis of the matter-wave solitons to a multicomponent case by considering the so-called spinor condensate (Stenger et al.; 1998) whose spin degrees of freedom are liberated under optical traps. Based on theoretical and experimental results, we introduce a new integrable model which describes the dynamical properties of the matter-wave soliton of spinor condensates (Ieda et al.; 2004a). We employ the inverse scattering method to solve this model exactly. As a result, we predict the occurrence of undiscovered physical phenomena such as macroscopic spin precession and spin switching. The chapter is organized as follows. In Sec. 2, the mean field theory of condensate is briefly reviewed. Section 3 introduces an effective interatomic coupling in a q1D condensate. Using these results, we consider a spinor condensate in q1D regime in Sec. 4. Then, in Sec. 5, we
Trapped Bose-condensed atomic gases are remarkable because, in spite of the fact that these are very dilute systems, they exhibit robust coherent dynamic behaviour when perturbed. These quantum “wisps of matter” are a new phase of highly coherent matter. While binary collisions are very infrequent, the large coherent mean field associated with the Bose condensate ensures that interactions play a crucial role in determining the collective response of these trapped superfluid gases. In our discussion of the theory of collective oscillations of atomic condensates, the macroscopic Bose wavefunction Φ( r , t ) plays a central role. This wavefunction is the BEC order parameter. As discussed in Chapter 1, the initial attempts at defining this order parameter began with the pioneering work of London (1938a), were further developed by Bogoliubov (1947) and finally extended to deal with any Bose superfluid using the general quantum field theoretic formalism developed by Beliaev (1958a). Almost all this early theoretical work was limited to T = 0 where, in a dilute weakly interacting Bose gas, all the atoms are in the condensate. The first extension of these ideas to nonuniform Bose condensates was by Pitaevskii (1961) and, independently, by Gross (1961), which led to the now famous Gross–Pitaevskii (GP) equation of motion for Φ( r , t ). Before the discovery of BEC in trapped gases, the time-dependent GP equation was mainly used to study vortices in Bose superfluids, which involve a spatially nonuniform ground state. Apart from this application, the GP equation was largely unknown. The situation changed overnight in 1995 with the creation of trapped nonuniform Bose condensates in atomic gases.
Since the first experimental observation of the Bose-Einstein condensation of a gas of alkali atoms, six years ago, there has been an increasing interest on this new, highly interdisciplinary, branch of physics. It was realized, from the very beginning that, despite of the diluteness of such systems, the nonlinearity was crucial on the understanding of both the equilibrium and dynamical properties. In this Thesis we point out that there is a further key aspect that must be taken into account when the condensates are trapped in deep optical lattices: discreteness. The interplay between discreteness and nonlinearity raises a new class of deeply non-trivial phenomena which disappear in the continuum limit of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE). Recognizing and exploiting such interplay is the main topic of this Thesis. We think that the dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) in optical lattices is going to become of central interest in the next future. Optical potentials provide BEC's waveguides, which prevent the spatial spreading of the BEC wave packets and preserve their coherence over long distances. This has allowed to build high sensitive interferometers, including gyroscopes and gravitometers. From the theoretical point of view, the big challenge is to reconsider the meaning of phenomena which have been well understood in homogeneous systems: superfluidity, for instance, is in the top list. A further example is given by quantum phase transitions. The connection and the interplay with the language and insights of the nonlinear physics community is a second challenge. We believe that the results obtained in the BEC context can provide a new prospective view into old problems. The understanding of the modulational instability in terms of phase randomization and a (classical) dynamical phase transition are among this line, as well as the possibility to generalize the Landau criteria for superfluidity to discrete systems. On the other hand, it is clear that nonlinear physicists can have much to say about BEC. With this Thesis we hope we have provided, together with original results, some links between these different languages and views.
L Pitaevskii and S Stringari Oxford: Oxford University Press (2003) £55.50 (hardback), ISBN 0-19-850719-4 The Gross--Pitaevskii equation, named after one of the authors of the book, and its large number of applications for describing the properties of Bose--Einstein condensation (BEC) in trapped weakly interacting atomic gases, is the main topic of this book. In total the monograph comprises 18 chapters and is divided into two parts. Part I introduces the notion of BEC and superfluidity in general terms. The most important properties of the ideal and the weakly interacting Bose gas are described and the effects of nonuniformity due to an external potential at zero temperature are studied. The first part is then concluded with a summary of the properties of superfluid 4He. In Part II the authors describe the theoretical aspects of BEC in harmonically trapped weakly interacting atomic gases. A short and rather rudimentary chapter on collisions and trapping of atomic gases which seems to be included for completeness only is followed by a detailed analysis of the ground state,\newpage\noindent collective excitations, thermodynamics, and vortices as well as mixtures of BECs and the Josephson effect in BEC. Finally, the last three chapters deal with topics of more recent interest like BEC in optical lattices, low dimensional systems, and cold Fermi gases. The book is well written and in fact it provides numerous useful and important relations between the different properties of a BEC and covers most of the aspects of ultracold weakly interacting atomic gases from the point of view of condensed matter physics. The book contains a comprehensive introduction to BEC for physicists new to the field as well as a lot of detail and insight for those already familiar with this area. I therefore recommend it to everyone who is interested in BEC. Very clearly however, the intention of the book is not to provide prospects for applications of BEC in atomic physics, quantum optics or quantum state engineering and therefore the more practically oriented reader might sometimes wonder why exactly an equation is termed useful or important.
The achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in ultracold vapors of alkali atoms has given enormous impulse to the theoretical and experimental study of dilute atomic gases in condensed quantum states inside magnetic traps and optical lattices. This article offers a short survey on mathematical models and theories as well as numerical methods for BEC based on the mean field theory. We start with the Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE) in three dimensions (3D) for modeling one-component BEC of the weakly interacting bosons, scale it to obtain a three-parameter model and show how to reduce it to two dimensions (2D) and one dimension (1D) GPEs in certain limiting regimes. Mathematical theories and numerical methods for ground states and dynamics of BEC are provided. Extensions to GPE with an angular momentum rotation term for a rotating BEC, to GPE with long-range anisotropic dipole-dipole interaction for a dipolar BEC and to coupled GPEs for spin-orbit coupled BECs are discussed. Finally, some conclusions are drawn and future research perspectives are discussed.