By using a weak imaginary random potential to simulate the random system dissipation and considering the quantum many-body effect, the role of random system dissipation in the quantum coherence establishment of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) is studied. It is found that even very weak random system dissipation may induce an obvious interference pattern between two initially independent BECs after the overlapping. Moreover, the random system dissipation has no effect on the spatial period of the interference fringes, which is identical to that observed in the current interference experiments. Under the assumption of weak dissipation, increasing the dissipation strength may accelerate the construction of the observable relative phase. Other behaviours of the interference are also investigated. The theoretical analysis and the numerical simulation show good consistency. This sort of interference has an observable effect, which significantly differs from other quantum interference mechanisms. The work may provide further theoretical basis for the future interference experiment of molecular BECs (Kohstall et al 2011 New J. Phys. 13 065027), considering the possible dissipation of the molecular BECs (e. g. the destruction of the weakly bound Feshbach molecules and the dissipation of the condensate fraction).
We discuss the dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a double-well trap subject to phase noise and particle loss. The phase coherence of a weakly interacting condensate, experimentally measured via the contrast in an interference experiment, as well as the response to an external driving becomes maximal for a finite value of the dissipation rate matching the intrinsic time scales of the system. This can be understood as a stochastic resonance of the many-particle system. Even stronger effects are observed when dissipation acts in concurrence with strong interparticle interactions, restoring the purity of the condensate almost completely and increasing the phase coherence significantly. Our theoretical results are backed by Monte Carlo simulations, which show a good qualitative agreement and provide a microscopic explanation for the observed stochastic resonance effect.
We have observed the interference between two Bose–Einstein condensates of weakly bound Feshbach molecules of fermionic 6 Li atoms. Two condensates are prepared in a double-well trap and, after release from this trap, overlap in expansion. We detect a clear interference pattern that unambiguously demonstrates the de Broglie wavelength of molecules. We verify that only the condensate fraction shows interference. With increasing interaction strength, the pattern vanishes because elastic collisions during overlap remove particles from the condensate wave function. For strong interaction, the condensates do not penetrate each other as they collide hydrodynamically.
After removing the double-well potential trapping two initially independent Bose condensates, the density expectation value is calculated when both the exchange symmetry of identical bosons and interatomic interaction are considered. The density expectation value and evolution equations are obtained based on both the first-quantization and second-quantization methods. When the interatomic interaction is considered carefully, after the overlapping of two initially independent condensates, it is shown that there is a nonzero interference term in the density expectation value. It is found that the calculated density expectation value with this model agrees with the interference pattern observed in the experiment by Andrews (Science 275, 637 (1997)). The nonzero interference term in the density expectation value physically arises from the exchange symmetry of identical bosons and interatomic interaction which make two initially independent condensates become coherent after the overlapping. For two initially independent condensates, our researches show that there is an interaction-induced coherence process.
Interference of two independently prepared ideal Bose gases is discussed, on the basis of the idea of measurement-induced interference. It is known that, even if the number of atoms in each gas is individually fixed finite and the symmetry of the system is not broken, an interference pattern is observed on each single snapshot. The key role is played by the Hanbury Brown and Twiss effect, which leads to an oscillating pattern of the cloud of identical atoms. Then, how essential is the Bose-Einstein condensation to the interference? In this work, we describe two ideal Bose gases trapped in two separate three-dimensional harmonic traps at a finite temperature
T, using the canonical ensembles (with fixed numbers of atoms). We compute the full statistics of the snapshot profiles of the expanding and overlapping gases released from the traps. We obtain a simple formula valid for finite
T, which shows that the average fringe spectrum (average fringe contrast) is given by the purity of each gas. The purity is known to be a good measure of condensation, and the formula clarifies the relevance of the condensation to the interference. The results for
T=0, previously known in the literature, can be recovered from our analysis. The fluctuation of the interference spectrum is also studied, and it is shown that the fluctuation is vanishingly small only below the critical temperature
Tc, meaning that interference pattern is certainly observed on every snapshot below
Tc. The fact that the number of atoms is fixed in the canonical ensemble is crucial to this vanishing fluctuation.
Motivated by recent experimental realization of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of dipolar molecules, we develop superfluid transport theory for a dissipative BEC to show that a weak uniform two-body loss can induce phase rigidity, leading to superfluid transport of bosons without repulsive interactions. A generalized f-sum rule is shown to hold for a dissipative superfluid as a consequence of weak U(1) symmetry. We also demonstrate that dissipation enhances the stability of a molecular BEC with dipolar interactions. Possible experimental signatures of dissipative superfluidity are discussed.
We have discussed the interference of two independently prepared Bose-Einstein condensates. When the number of atoms in each gas is fixed and the phases of the gases are uncertain, no interference is expected in the single-particle distribution. However, the interference is observed in each single snapshot. We have presented tools for studying such snapshot interference, the measurement-induced interference. The idea is to discard the randomness in the snapshot profiles (the spatial offsets of the interference patterns) and to focus on the typical feature in the interference patterns (the fringe spacing). If the sinusoidal patterns with a definite fringe spacing is actually typical, the fringe spectrum with the random offset discarded does not fluctuate, and we are allowed to speak of the snapshot interference through its average. We have described the two gases as canonical ensembles with the numbers of atoms fixed at N individually. We have shown that the covariance of the fringe spectrum over all possible snapshot profiles is vanishingly small below the critical temperature of the Bose-Einstein condensation: the interference pattern whose fringe contrast is characterized by the average fringe spectrum is certainly observed in every snapshot in the presence of condensates. The fringe contrast becomes stronger as the temperature is lowered and the condensation fraction is increased. This clarifies the importance of the Bose-Einstein condensation to the interference of independent Bose-Einstein condensates. The knowledge I acquired from Prof. Tasaki's lecture on how to characterize the canonical ensemble of bosonic atoms has enabled us to carry out this analysis. Like this example, the coherence phenomena of quantum many-body systems in general would be explained on the basis of the idea of the measurement-indued coherence, without resort to the idea of the spontaneous symmetry breaking. This is actually true also for fermionic systems: the relative phase between two independent superconductors is built up by measurement, even though their U(1) symmetries are not broken and their phases are uncertain beforehand. It would be interesting to explore the possibility of explaining various phenomena, in which the symmetry breaking plays an essential role, on the basis of the measurement-induced coherence.