We present a study of binary mixtures of Bose–Einstein condensates confined in a double-well potential within the framework of the mean field Gross–Pitaevskii (GP) equation. We re-examine both the single component and the binary mixture cases for such a potential, and we investigate what are the situations in which a simpler two-mode approach leads to an accurate description of their dynamics. We also estimate the validity of the most usual dimensionality reductions used to solve the GP equations. To this end, we compare both the semi-analytical two-mode approaches and the numerical simulations of the one-dimensional (1D) reductions with the full 3D numerical solutions of the GP equation. Our analysis provides a guide to clarify the validity of several simplified models that describe mean-field nonlinear dynamics, using an experimentally feasible binary mixture of an F = 1 spinor condensate with two of its Zeeman manifolds populated, m = ±1.
We consider an ultracold bosonic binary mixture confined in a quasi-one-dimensional double-well trap. The two bosonic components are assumed to be two hyperfine internal states of the same atom. We suppose that these two components are spin-orbit coupled to each other. We employ the two-mode approximation starting from two coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations and derive a system of ordinary differential equations governing the temporal evolution of the interwell population imbalance of each component and of the polarization, which is the imbalance of the total populations of the two species. From this set of equations we disentangle the different macroscopic quantum tunneling and self-trapping scenarios occurring for both population imbalances and the polarization in terms of the interplay between the interatomic interactions and the other relevant energies in the problem, like the spin-orbit coupling or the conventional tunneling term. We find a rich dynamics in all three variables and discuss the experimental feasibility of such a system.
We present effective reduced equations for the study of a binary Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), where the confining potentials of the two BEC components have distinct asymmetry so that the components belong to different space dimensions as in a recent experiment [G. Lamporesi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 153202 (2010).]. Starting from a binary three-dimensional (3D) Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE) and using a Lagrangian variational approach we derive a binary effective nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation with components in different reduced dimensions, for example, the first component in one dimension and the second in two dimensions as appropriate to represent a cigar-shaped BEC coupled to a disk-shaped BEC. We demonstrate that the effective reduced binary equation, which depends on the geometry of the system, is quite reliable when compared with the binary 3D GPE and can be efficiently used to perform numerical simulation and analytical calculation for the investigation of static and dynamic properties of a binary BEC in mixed dimensions.
We present effective reduced equations for the study of a binary Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), where the confining potentials of the two BEC components have distinct asymmetry so that the components belong to different space dimensions as in a recent experiment [G. Lamporesi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 153202 (2010)]. Starting from a binary three-dimensional (3D) Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE) and using a Lagrangian variational approach we derive a binary effective nonlinear Schroedinger equation with components in different reduced dimensions, e. g., the first component in one dimension and the second in two dimensions as appropriate to represent a cigar-shaped BEC coupled to a disk-shaped BEC. We demonstrate that the effective reduced binary equation, which depend on the geometry of the system, is quite reliable when compared with the binary 3D GPE and can be efficiently used to perform numerical simulation and analytical calculation for the investigation of static and dynamic properties of a binary BEC in mixed dimensions.
In this thesis we study and characterize the behavior of Bose-Einstein condensates in a BJJ, using two different theoretical formalisms: the mean-field approximation (with the Gross-Pitaevskii equation) and many-body calculations (based on Bose-Hubbard models). \n\t\t\t\t With single-component Bose-Einstein condensates, we have focused on the study of the structure of the ground state as a function of the system parameters. We have looked for strongly correlated states, that cannot be described with mean-field theories, and we have proposed a variational wave function that captures the structure of the ground state for a broad interval of the system parameters. We have also studied the nonlinear effects of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, visible when atom-atom interactions are strong. \n\t\t\t\t In the case of binary mixtures of Bose-Einstein condensates we have performed an intensive study of the different regimes that can arise and in which conditions. The standard two-mode approximation is one of the most used in the study of the Josephson effect, as it gives simple analytic equations that capture, to a great extend, the behavior of the system. When the link between condensates is not weak enough, one has to consider a correction to this approximation, namely, the improved two-mode approximation. In this thesis, we have derived this last approximation for the binary mixture and we have checked its validity comparing it with numerical simulations of the three-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Moreover, as the Josephson dynamics is almost one-dimensional, we have considered the two most common reductions of the dimensionality of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. In this case, we have also compared, using simulations, these one-dimensional reductions with the three-dimensional equation. \n\t\t\t\t We have also studied spinor condensates in an external BJJ. We have focused on condensates formed by atoms with spin
F=1, which can be in any of the three internal states
mF=0,pm1. Furthermore, in contrast to the binary mixture, spin interchange is allowed, so that the number of particles of each component becomes a dynamic variable. First, we have studied this system within the mean-field framework, using the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We have derived the two-mode approximation equations and we have focused in studying the decoupling of the Josephson effect and the population transfer dynamics. In this case, we also compare the results with numerical simulations of the three dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Second, we have studied the spinor BJJ using the Bose-Hubbard formalism, because some features of quantum fluctuations are better captured than with the mean-field. We have characterized the ground state, paying special attention to the regions where it is strongly correlated. We have seen how the spin singlet formation (strongly correlated state between two particles) affects the structure of the ground state. \n\n\t\t\t\t Finally, we have studied finite temperature effects on spinor Bose-Einstein condensates in the presence of a magnetic field, for two different cases. First, we have analyzed a condensate formed by
F=1 atoms with contact interactions. We have considered that the condensate was formed by atoms in the internal state
mF=0 and we have studied the dependence of the fluctuations of the other two components
mF=pm1 as a function of temperature. We have used the Bogoliubov formalism applied to an homogeneous system, and then, we have generalized the result to an harmonic trap by using the local density approximation. Second, we have studied a condensate formed by particles with
F=3 with contact interactions and moreover, dipolar interactions. In a similar way as the previous case, we consider that the condensate is formed by particles with
mF=−3 and we study the fluctuations in
mF=−2 and
mF=−3.
We identify all possible classes of solutions for two-component Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) within the Thomas-Fermi (TF) approximation and check these results against numerical simulations of the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations (GPEs). We find that they can be divided into two general categories. The first class contains solutions with a region of overlap between the components. The other class consists of non-overlapping wavefunctions and also contains solutions that do not possess the symmetry of the trap. The chemical potential and average energy can be found for both classes within the TF approximation by solving a set of coupled algebraic equations representing the normalization conditions for each component. A ground state minimizing the energy (within both classes of states) is found for a given set of parameters characterizing the scattering length and confining potential. In the TF approximation, the ground state always shares the symmetry of the trap. However, a full numerical solution of the coupled GPEs, incorporating the kinetic energy of the BEC atoms, can sometimes select a broken-symmetry state as the ground state of the system. We also investigate effects of finite-range interactions on the structure of the ground state.