APS » PROLA » Phys. Rev. A » Volume 57 » Issue 1
< Previous article | Next article >

Phys. Rev. A 57, R28 - R31 (1998)

Josephson effect between trapped Bose-Einstein condensates

Download: PDF (113 kB) or Buy this Article (Use Article Pack) Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

Ivar Zapata and Fernando Sols
Departamento de Física Teórica de la Materia Condensada, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, E-28049 Madrid, Spain

Anthony J. Leggett
Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, 1110 West Green Street, Urbana, Illinois 61801

Rapid Communication Received 14 July 1997

We study the Josephson effect between atomic Bose-Einstein condensates. By drawing on an electrostatic analogy, we derive a semiclassical functional expression for the three-dimensional Josephson coupling energy in terms of the condensate density. Estimates of the capacitive energy and of the Josephson plasma frequency are also given. The effect of dissipation due to the incoherent exchange of normal atoms is analyzed. We conclude that coherent Josephson dynamics may already be observable in current experimental systems.


©1998 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.57.R28
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.57.R28
PACS: 03.75.Fi, 74.50.+r, 05.30.Jp, 32.80.Pj

[ Abstract  |  Previous article  |  Next article  |  Issue 1 ]