The chaotic ratchet effect for Bose–Einstein condensed atoms in an optical lattice is investigated. By using the direct perturbation method we obtain the chaotic solution of the condensed system. Theoretical analysis reveals that the transport of the condensed atoms in the ratchet potential is a chaotic one, and corresponding numerical results agree well with the theoretical results.

Communications in Theoretical PhysicsDec 1, 20084 citations

Interaction-induced quantum ratchet in a Bose-Einstein condensate

Dario Poletti, Giuliano Benenti, Giulio Casati +1 more

We study the dynamics of a dilute Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a toroidal trap and exposed to a pair of periodically flashed optical lattices. We first prove that in the noninteracting case this system can present a quantum symmetry which forbids the ratchet effect classically expected. We then show how many-body atom-atom interactions, treated within the mean-field approximation, can break this quantum symmetry, thus generating directed transport.

arXiv:cond-mat/0609535Physical Review AAug 24, 200723 citations