Nonlinear Localization, Controlled Transport and Collapse Suppression in Bose-Einstein Condensates


Book Description

This thesis includes theoretical studies regarding stability and manipulation of Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) of ultra-cold atoms in 2D trapping geometry, as well as formation of steady states of exciton-polariton Bose-Einstein condensates created in solid states. We analyze and numerically model the dynamics and localization of the condensates using mean-field model. Chapter 1 contains an introduction to the physics of ultra-cold atom BEC and excitonpolariton BEC which provides a framework for the work presented in later chapters. In Chapter 2, we consider a method for achieving dynamically controllable transport of highly mobile matter-wave solitons in an ultra-cold atom BEC with attractive interparticle interaction loaded into a driven two-dimensional optical lattice. Our numerical analysis based on the mean-field model and the theory based on the effective particle approach demonstrate that fast, time-periodic rocking of the two-dimensional optical lattice enables efficient stabilization and manipulation of spatially localized matter wave packets via induced reconfigurable mobility channels. Chapter 3 consists of an investigation of the instability - collapse of a BEC with attractive interactions. In this chapter we explore the influence of an orbital angular momentum on the collapse of vortex-free elliptic clouds of Bose-Einstein condensates trapped in a radially symmetric harmonic potential or a rotating elliptic potential. The results of our analysis show that the number of trapped ultracold atoms corresponding to the collapse threshold can be radically increased for such rotating nonlinear matter waves in a radially harmonic trap. The results corresponding to a BEC cloud confined in a rotating elliptic trap show that the elongated stationary states can be parallel or perpendicular to the long axis of the trap and display bistable nature. In Chapter 4, we examine spatial localization and dynamical stability of Bose-Einstein condensates of exciton-polaritons in microcavities under the condition of off-resonant spatially inhomogeneous optical pumping both with and without a harmonic trapping potential. We employ the open-dissipative Gross-Pitaevskii model for describing an incoherently pumped polariton condensate coupled to an exciton reservoir. We reveal that spatial localization of the steady-state condensate occurs due to effective self-trapping created by the polariton flows, regardless of the presence of the external potential. A ground state of the polariton condensate with repulsive interactions between the quasiparticles represents a dynamically stable bright dissipative soliton. We also investigate the conditions for sustaining spatially localized structures, with nonzero angular momentum, in the form of single-charge vortices. Chapter 5 consider the existence of novel spatially localized states of exciton-polariton Bose-Einstein condensates in semiconductor microcavities with fabricated periodic inplane potentials. Our theory shows that, under the conditions of continuous nonresonant pumping, localization is observed for a wide range of optical pump parameters due to effective potentials self-induced by the polariton flows in the spatially periodic system. We show that the self-localization of exciton-polaritons in the lattice may occur both in the gaps and bands of the single-particle linear spectrum, and is dominated by the effects of gain and dissipation rather than the structured potential, in sharp contrast to the conservative condensates of ultra-cold alkali atoms.




Emergent Nonlinear Phenomena in Bose-Einstein Condensates


Book Description

This book, written by experts in the fields of atomic physics and nonlinear science, covers the important developments in a special aspect of Bose-Einstein condensation, namely nonlinear phenomena in condensates. Topics covered include bright, dark, gap and multidimensional solitons; vortices; vortex lattices; optical lattices; multicomponent condensates; mathematical methods/rigorous results; and the beyond-the-mean-field approach.







Bose-Einstein Condensation in Nonlinear System


Book Description

Bose--Einstein condensation was discovered in atomic gas systems, where Bose condensate occupies 100% of the total system at zero temperature. Liquid helium systems have been investigated based on the Landau theory, where the superfluid component of liquid helium is background flow. According to the Landau theory, it is doubtful that the superfluid component is a Bose condensate. In experiments, the probability of helium atoms with zero momentum is a few percent of the total liquid helium at ultra-low temperatures. However, the superfluid component occupies 100% of the liquid helium at zero temperature, as macroscopic observations indicate. This book introduces a quasi-particle representing an eigenstate of the total Hamiltonian.




Localisation of Bose-Einstein Condensates in Optical Lattices


Book Description

The properties of Bose-Einstein condensates can be studied and controlled effectively when trapped in optical lattices formed by two counter-propagating laser beams. The dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices are well-described by a continuous model using the Gross-Pitaevskii equation in a modulated potential or, in the case of deep potentials, a discrete model using the Discrete Nonlinear Schrodinger equation. Spatially localised modes, known as lattice solitons in the continuous model, or discrete breathers in the discrete model, can occur and are the focus of this thesis. Theoretical and computational studies of these localised modes are investigated in three different situations. Firstly, a model of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a ring optical lattice with atomic dissipations applied at a stationary or at a moving location on the ring is presented in the continuous model. The localised dissipation is shown to generate and stabilise both stationary and traveling lattice solitons. The solutions generated include spatially stationary quasiperiodic lattice solitons and a family of traveling lattice solitons with two intensity peaks per potential well with no counterpart in the discrete case. Collisions between traveling and stationary lattice solitons as well as between two traveling lattice solitons display a dependence on the lattice depth. Then, collisions with a potential barrier of either travelling lattice solitons or travelling discrete breathers are investigated along with their dependence on the height of the barrier. Regions of complete reection or of partial reflection where the incoming soliton/breather is split in two, are observed and understood interms of the soliton properties. Partial trapping of the atoms in the barrier is observed for positive barrier heights due to the negative effective mass of the solitons/breathers. Finally, two coupled discrete nonlinear Schrodinger equations can describe the interaction and collisions of breathers in two-species Bose-Einstein condensates in deep optical lattices. This is done for two cases of experimental relevance: a mixture of two ytterbium isotopes and a mixture of Rubidium (87Rb) and Potassium(41K) atoms. Depending on their initial separation, interaction between stationary breathers of different species can lead to the formation of symbiotic localised structures or transform one of the breathers from a stationary one into a travelling one. Collisions between travelling and stationary discrete breathers composed of different species are separated in four distinct regimes ranging from totally elastic when the interspecies interaction is highly attractive to mutual destruction when the interaction is suffciently large and repulsive.













Nonlinear Dynamics and Shock Structures in Elongated Bose-Einstein Condensates


Book Description

Dilute gas Bose-Einstein condensates are ultracold quantum gases that display many peculiar hydrodynamic properties, such as superfluidity, i.e. dissipation-less flow, a variety of solitonic textures and quantized vortex structures. Small amplitude excitations within a Bose-Einstein condensate are described by the Bogoliubov dispersion, and have been extensively studied in the past. This dissertation extends previous studies by focusing on strong, nonlinear excitations and shock structures generated in elongated Rb-87 Bose-Einstein condensates, elucidating novel dynamics in these quantum systems.This dissertation is separated into two major parts. In the first part, the building and characterization of a new Bose-Einstein condensate apparatus at Washington State University is described. This apparatus has been built to generate ultracold clouds of Rb-87 and, more recently, K-41atoms. A description of the setups for both isotopes are provided. The apparatus reliably produces Bose-Einstein condensates of 7 x 105 Rb-87 atoms every 20 seconds.In the second part of this dissertation, three experiments in a channel geometry are described that have been conducted with the new apparatus. In this part of the dissertation, quantum hydrodynamic properties are probed by using time-dependent optical potentials to generate nonlinear excitations and shock structures in an elongated Bose-Einstein condensate. An emergence of viscous-like shock dynamics, unidirectionality of a non-magnetic spin switch device, and the structure of dispersive shock waves in new types of higher order dispersions are observed. The work described in this dissertation establishes a novel platform for studying strong nonlinear effects in ultracold quantum gases.




Chemical Abstracts


Book Description