We study the dynamics of merging two initially independent Bose–Einstein condensates by adiabatically deforming the trap potential from a double well into a single well. The process of slowly decreasing the height of the central barrier of the double well is simulated by a full 3D calculation of the Gross–Pitaevskii equation. We investigate the dynamics by considering some factors relevant to experiments, e.g., the atom number, the initial state in each well, the initial relative phase between the two condensates. For a small number of 4400 atoms in each well and the same initial phase, we find for both condensates in the ground state or the p-wave soliton state that the final state is the ground state or the p-wave soliton state of the final trap potential. For cases in which both condensates are vortex states, we find much richer dynamics with the appearance of an extra vortex. We also discuss the cases for different initial relative phases. For comparison, we present results for 44 000 atoms corresponding to a larger nonlinear term in the Gross–Pitaevskii equation. In support of future experimental observations, we show both probability density and current maps.
We investigate the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensate droplets composed of
164Dy atoms formed in a double-well potential following removal of the interwell barrier. By solving the dipolar Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we determine phase diagrams of ground-state configurations as functions of the atom number confined in the double-well potential. For an interwell separation
2d=3μm, we consider the relative dipolar-to-contact interaction strengths
εdd=1.4,
1.45, and
1.5. Symmetry-broken lowest-energy configurations are found for
εdd=1.5 and, over a reduced range of atom numbers, for
εdd=1.45, whereas no symmetry-broken states are found for
εdd=1.4 up to
N=5×104. We analyze the subsequent time evolution after removal of the central barrier, revealing both droplet oscillations and merger events leading to the formation of larger droplets. The oscillations are driven by the external potential and by the repulsive tails of the in-plane component of the dipolar interaction. For the two-droplet states at
εdd=1.5 and
2d=3μm, merging is found for
N=8000 and
8800, whereas the droplets remain separated for the investigated cases with
N≥9000. Increasing the initial separation to
2d=5μm shifts the approximate upper atom number for merging to
N≃1.65×104, demonstrating that the crossover is controlled by the competition between the post-quench excess energy and the repulsive inter-droplet barrier.
We present the simulation results of merging harmonically confined rotating Bose–Einstein condensates in two dimensions. Merging of the condensate is triggered by positioning the rotation axis at the trap minima and moving both condensates toward each other while slowly ramping their rotation frequency. We analyze the dynamics of the merged condensate by letting them evolve under a single harmonic trap. We systematically investigate the formation of solitonic and vortex structures in the final, unified condensate, considering both nonrotating and rotating initial states. In both cases, merging leads to the formation of solitons that decay into vortex pairs through snake instability, and subsequently, these pairs annihilate. Soliton formation and decay-induced phase excitations generate sound waves, more pronounced when the merging time is short. We witness no sound wave generation at sufficiently longer merging times that finally leads to the condensate reaching its ground state. With rotation, we notice off-axis merging (where the rotation axes are not aligned), leading to the distortion and weakening of soliton formation. The incompressible kinetic energy spectrum exhibits a Kolmogorov-like cascade [E(k)∼k−5/3] in the initial stage for merging condensates rotating above a critical frequency and a Vinen-like cascade [E(k)∼k−1] at a later time for all cases. Our findings hold potential significance for atomic interferometry, continuous atomic lasers, and quantum sensing applications.
The theory of Bose-Einstein condensation in a two-dimensional(2D) harmonic trap is developed from 2D Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The 2D interaction strength is obtained from a 2D collision theory. We show the realization of 2D condensation of trapped Bose atoms directly by obtaining the stable solutions for the condensate wave function from the 2D Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We calculate the ground-state energy of the 2D system, and also the wave function of the 2D vortex state. In particular, the 2D energy state becomes less stable than the 3D case with the number of trapped atoms. The results of the 2D Bose condensation are also compared with those of the well-known 3D case.
In this Thesis we apply the Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE) to describe properties of a dilute, near zero temperature Bose gas for various confining geometries. We start by reviewing some basic information about the density, the chemical potential and elementary excitations of a dilute atomic condensate confined in a single harmonic trap for a Bose condensate with repulsive and attractive interactions and we also discuss the stability in the case of attractive interactions. We extend our study to a one and three dimensional double-well trap. We investigate the eigenenergy levels and show that the nonlinearity leads to triangular structures which appear either in the ground or excited states for the case of a Bose condensate with attractive or repulsive interactions respectively. We apply the eigenenergy level picture to analyse Josephson effects induced when the barrier IS moved at a constant velocity across the trapping potential or by the application of a time-dependent potential gradient. The GPE simulations are compared to the predictions of a nonlinear two state model. Above a critical velocity there is a transition to a superposition of ground and excited states which leads to sudden changes in the population difference. The direction of Josephson flow depends critically on the initial state of the system and we discuss the feasibility of experimental control of the atomic flow using phase-imprinting. The stability of a low temperature Bose-Einstein condensate with attract interactions in one and three dimensional double-well potentiate is discussed. The condensate is shown to collapse at a critical potential gradient which corresponds to a critical number of atoms in one of the two wells. Finally we investigate the stability and tunnelling effects in a multi-well system.
In this Thesis we study steady state solutions and dynamical evolutions of two– component atomic Bose–Einstein Condensates. We initially investigate the equilibrium properties of condensate mixtures in harmonic trapping potentials at zero temperature. Subsequently we simulate the coupled growth of these condensates by inclusion of damping terms. Finally, we investigate the evolution of coupled Bose gases via the so-called classical–field method. A recent experiment [D. J. McCarron et al., Phys. Rev. A, 84, 011603(R) (2011)] achieved Bose–Einstein Condensation of a two–species 87Rb–133Cs phase segregated mixture in harmonic trapping potentials. Depending on relative atom numbers of the two species, three distinct regimes of density distributions were observed. For these experimental parameters, we investigate the corresponding time–independent ground state solutions through numerical simulations of the coupled Gross–Pitaevskii equations. By including experimentally relevant shifts between the traps, we observe a range of structures including ‘ball and shell’ formations and axially/radially separated states. These are found to be very sensitive to the trap shifts. For all three experimental regimes, our numerical simulations reveal good qualitative agreement. The observed experimental profiles cannot be guaranteed to be fully equilibrated. This, coupled with the rapid sympathetic cooling of the experimental system, leads to a situation where growth may play a determining factor in the density structures formed. To investigate this further, we introduce phenomenological damping to describe the associated condensate growth/decay, revealing a range of transient structures. However, such a model always predicts the predominance of one condensate species over longer evolution times. Work undertaken by collaborators with the more elaborate Stochastic Projected Gross–Pitaevskii equations, which can describe condensate formation by coupling to a heat bath, predicts the spontaneous formation of dark–bright solitons. Motivated by this, we show how the presence of solitons can affect the condensate distribution, thus highlighting the overall dynamical role in the emerging patterns. Finally, we use classical field methods to analyse the evolution of non trapped Bose gases from strongly nonequilibrium initial distributions. The contrast between miscible (overlapping) and immiscible (phase segregated) components gives rise to important distinctions for condensate fractions and the formation of domains and vortices. In addition, splitting the particles of a single component thermalised state into two components is investigated. We then study the effects of suddenly quenching the strength of the interspecies interactions. Under suitable conditions, this quench generates isotropic vortex tangles. While this tangle subsequently decays over time, we propose how a repeat sequence of quenches at regular intervals could be employed to drive the tangle, thereby potentially providing a novel route to the generation of quantum turbulence.
We investigate the stability of the first excited state, the so-called “π-state,” of Bose-Einstein condensates in a double-well potential. From the condition of complex excitation energies, we determine the critical barrier height, above which the π-state is dynamically unstable. We find that the critical barrier height decreases monotonically as the number of condensate atoms increases. We also simulate the dynamics of the π-state by solving the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Our simulation results show that the π-state in the dynamically unstable region exhibits distinctively different behavior from that in the dynamically stable region.