Dynamical instabilities of Bose-Einstein condensates at the band edge in one-dimensional optical lattices

Andrew J. Ferris, Matthew J. Davis, Reece W. Geursen, P. Blair Blakie, and Andrew C. Wilson
Phys. Rev. A 77, 012712 – Published 18 January 2008

Abstract

We present a joint theoretical and experimental study of the dynamical instability of a Bose—Einstein condensate at the band edge of a one-dimensional optical lattice. The instability manifests as rapid depletion of the condensate and conversion to a thermal cloud. We consider the collisional processes that can occur in such a system, and undertake a thorough theoretical study of the dynamical instability in systems of different dimensionality. We find spontaneous scattering is an important part of this process, and thus the Gross-Pitaevskii equation is unable to accurately predict the dynamics in this system. Our beyond mean-field approach, known as the truncated Wigner method, allows us to make quantitative predictions for the processes of parametric growth and heating that are observed in the laboratory, and we find good agreement with the experimental results.

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  • Received 19 June 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.77.012712

©2008 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Andrew J. Ferris and Matthew J. Davis

  • ARC Centre of Excellence for Quantum-Atom Optics, School of Physical Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia

Reece W. Geursen, P. Blair Blakie, and Andrew C. Wilson

  • Jack Dodd Centre for Photonics and Ultra-Cold Atoms, Department of Physics, University of Otago, P.O. Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand

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Issue

Vol. 77, Iss. 1 — January 2008

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