Controlling collapse in Bose-Einstein condensates by temporal modulation of the scattering length

Fatkhulla Kh Abdullaev*, Jean Guy Caputo, Robert A. Kraenkel, Boris A. Malomed

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

55 Scopus citations

Abstract

We consider, by means of the variational approximation (VA) and direct numerical simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) equation, the dynamics of two-dimensional (2D) and 3D condensates with a scattering length containing constant and harmonically varying parts, which can be achieved with an ac magnetic field tuned to the Feshbach resonance. For a rapid time modulation, we develop an approach based on the direct averaging of the GP equation, without using the VA. In the 2D case, both VA and direct simulations, as well as the averaging method, reveal the existence of stable self-confined condensates without an external trap, in agreement with qualitatively similar results recently reported for spatial solitons in nonlinear optics. In the 3D case, the VA again predicts the existence of a stable self-confined condensate without a trap. In this case, direct simulations demonstrate that the stability is limited in time, eventually switching into collapse, even though the constant part of the scattering length is positive (but not too large). Thus a spatially uniform ac magnetic field, resonantly tuned to control the scattering length, may play the role of an effective trap confining the condensate, and sometimes causing its collapse.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)10
Number of pages1
JournalPhysical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
Volume67
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2003
Externally publishedYes

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