Dynamics of Bose-Einstein Condensates in an Optical Lattice - Some Surprising Results!

Choudhury, Sayan (2011) Dynamics of Bose-Einstein Condensates in an Optical Lattice - Some Surprising Results! Masters thesis, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata.

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Abstract

In Chapter 1 we set up the physical and mathematical framework for the description of interacting bosons on a lattice. After a brief introduction to the basic concepts of Bose-Einstein condensation, and how the condensate can be manipulated using optical lattices, we derive the Bose-Hubbard Hamiltonian (BHH) which is the paradigm model as far as the quantum description is concerned. Then the semiclassical limit of the BHH – the discrete nonlinear Schroedinger equation (DNLS) – as well as the mean-field (classical) description, the so-called Gross-Pitaevskii equation (GPE), is discussed. We give an overview of the relevant literature and of the various physical systems that are captured by the BHH including, among others, arrays of Josephson junctions and bond vibrations in small molecules. The chapter ends with an outline of the remaining thesis. In Chapter 2, we look at some interesting experiments done in cold bosonic systems. Ostensibly, done to realize the dc and ac Josephson effect in a system of cold bosons, it was soon found that the system can show some rather interesting non-linear behavior. This includes features such as solitons and breathers , but most interestingly, it shows the damping of the center-of-mass motion. Theoretical explanations are given for both the experiments. The damping of center-of-mass of the system is seen as a result of modulational instability. We give a different interpretation to this opening up lines for further investigations. We outline these at the end of the chapter. In Chapter 3, we discuss various experiments which contradicted the idea of a sharp modulational instability. Rather, the loss of coherence is smeared out over a large domain. We then reproduce some calculations from the literature showing how the dissipation can be thought of as arising from quantum phase slips. We calculate the tunneling rates for quantum phase slips and show a phase diagram demarcating stable and unstable regions of current which have been have obtained from mean-field calculations via the Gutzwiller ansatz. In Chapter 4, we look at the problem in details analyzing it as a Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid. The framework of Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid is actually a non-perturbative tool through which we can investigate an one-dimensional interacting bosonic fluid. We look at two possible mechanisms of decay of current- We look at the effect of a weak link in a Josephson Junction array as well as local quantum phase slips on a bosonic superfluid. We find that quantum phase slips are actually irrelevant under renormalisation group in both cases and the supercurrent is revived. In chapter 5, we look at the non-linear dynamics of the structures in greater detail, thus elucidating chaos. This mechanism of chaos is different from all realizations of chaos known so far and is a result of phase fluctuations, which are encoded by quantum phase slips.

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