Phys. Rev. A 62, 023612 (2000) [21 pages]

Nonlinear matter wave dynamics with a chaotic potential

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S. A. Gardiner1, D. Jaksch1, R. Dum1,2, J. I. Cirac1, and P. Zoller1
1Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Innsbruck, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria
2Ecole Normale Supérieure, Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, 24 Rue Lhomond, F-75231 Paris Cedex 05, France

Received 24 November 1999; revised 4 April 2000; published 20 July 2000

We consider the case of a cubic nonlinear Schrödinger equation with an additional chaotic potential, in the sense that such a potential produces chaotic dynamics in classical mechanics. We derive and describe an appropriate semiclassical limit to such a nonlinear Schrödinger equation, using a semiclassical interpretation of the Wigner function, and relate this to the hydrodynamic limit of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation used in the context of Bose-Einstein condensation. We investigate a specific example of a Gross-Pitaevskii equation with such a chaotic potential, the one-dimensional δ-kicked harmonic oscillator, and its semiclassical limit, discovering in the process an interesting interference effect, where increasing the strength of the repulsive nonlinearity promotes localization of the wave function. We explore the feasibility of an experimental realization of such a system in a Bose-Einstein condensate experiment, giving a concrete proposal of how to implement such a configuration, and considering the problem of condensate depletion.


©2000 The American Physical Society

URL: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.62.023612
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.62.023612
PACS: 03.75.-b, 05.45.-a, 03.65.Bz, 42.50.Vk

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