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Physical Review A

Subdiffusive spreading of a Bose-Einstein condensate in random potentials

Bin Min, Tiejun Li, Matthias Rosenkranz, Weizhu Bao

Published Nov 14, 2012• 25 citations

Abstract

We study numerically the long-time dynamics of a one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate expanding in a speckle or impurity disorder potential. Using the mean-field Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we demonstrate subdiffusive spreading of the condensate for long times. We find that interaction-assisted hopping between normal modes leads to this subdiffusion. A possible (partial) reason why the root-mean-square (rms) width saturates in the experiment [Nature (London) 453, 891 (2008)] is provided. We suggest that observing both the participation length and the rms width of a condensate, rather than only the rms width, could provide a more complete description of the long-time behavior of ultracold atoms in disorder potentials. Our study confirms subdiffusive spreading in spatially continuous disordered interacting models and highlights new features which spatially discrete models do not possess.

DOI: 10.1103/physreva.86.053612

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We numerically explore the long-time expansion of a one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate in a disorder potential employing the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. The goal is to search for unique signatures of Anderson localization in the presence of particle-particle interactions. Using typical experimental parameters, we show that the time scale for which the nonequilibrium dynamics of the interacting system begins to diverge from the noninteracting system exceeds the observation times up to now accessible in the experiment. We find evidence that the long-time evolution of the wave packet is characterized by (sub)diffusive spreading and a growing effective localization length, suggesting that interactions destroy Anderson localization.

We investigate the dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate in the presence of a random potential created by optical speckles. We first consider the effect of a weak disorder on the dipole and quadrupole collective oscillations, finding uncorrelated frequency shifts of the two modes with respect to the pure harmonic case. This behavior, predicted by a sum-rules approach, is confirmed by the numerical solution of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. Then we analyze the role of disorder on the one-dimensional expansion in an optical guide, discussing possible localization effects. Our theoretical analysis provides a useful insight into the recent experiments performed at LENS [J. E. Lye, L. Fallani, M. Modugno, D. S. Wiersma, C. Fort, and M. Inguscio, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 070401 (2005); C. Fort, L. Fallani, V. Guarrera, J. E. Lye, M. Modugno, D. S. Wiersma, and M. Inguscio, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 170410 (2005)].

Abstract We study the diffusion of an expanding Bose–Einstein condensate released from a harmonic trap in a three-dimensional speckle disorder potential. To this end, we use the first Born approximation and examine the density profiles at short and long times. Analytical results are presented in different regimes. The evolution of the density profiles in space and time is deeply examined. We find that at long times and for a fixed disorder strength, the profile of the average atomic density decreases in power law. The time evolution of the typical size of the condensate is explored numerically.

The phenomenon of Anderson localization in expanding one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates is investigated by numerically solving the Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a random speckle potential. To this purpose, a quantum lattice Boltzmann (QLB) method is used, and compared with a standard Crank-Nicolson scheme. The QLB simulations show evidence of Anderson localization even for relatively low-energy condensates, with a healing length as large as one-tenth of the Thomas-Fermi length. Moreover, very long-time simulations, lasting up to 15 000 optical confinement periods, indicate that the Anderson localization degrades in time, although at a very slow pace. In particular, the inverse localization length is found to decay according to a t;{-1/3} law. This lends support to the idea that localized wave functions, although not strictly ground states, represent extremely long-lived metastable states of the expanding condensate.