arXiv:cond-mat/0701346 · Physical Review Letters

Expansion of a Bose-Einstein Condensate in the Presence of Disorder

Boris Shapiro

Published Aug 6, 2007• 78 citations

Abstract

Expansion of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is studied in the presence of a random potential. The expansion is controlled by a single parameter, (microtau(eff)/variant Planck's over 2pi), where micro is the chemical potential, prior to the release of the BEC from the trap, and tau(eff) is a transport relaxation time which characterizes the strength of the disorder. Repulsive interactions (nonlinearity) facilitate transport and can lead to diffusive spreading of the condensate which, in the absence of interactions, would have remained localized in the vicinity of its initial location.

DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.99.060602

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