Superfluid current disruption in a chain of weakly coupled Bose–Einstein condensates

2003/06/13 by F. S. Cataliotti, L. Fallani, F. Ferlaino +4 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Strong Light-Matter Interactions #cond-mat.soft

paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/1367-2630/5/1/371

published as New Journal of Physics 5, 71 (2003) · 8 pages, 4 figures

openalex publication_date 2003/06/13 · arxiv created 2003/11/18 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30

Abstract

We report the experimental observation of the disruption of the superfluid atomic current flowing through an array of weakly linked Bose–Einstein condensates. The condensates are trapped in an optical lattice superimposed on a harmonic magnetic potential. The dynamical response of the system to a change of the magnetic potential minimum along the optical lattice axis goes from a coherent oscillation (superfluid regime) to a localization of the condensates in the harmonic trap ('classical' insulator regime). The localization occurs when the initial displacement is larger than a critical value or, equivalently, when the velocity of the wavepacket's centre of mass is larger than a critical velocity dependent on the rate of tunnelling between adjacent sites.

Citations

• Modulational instability in Bose-Einstein condensates in optical lattices
• Josephson Junction Arrays with Bose-Einstein Condensates
• Quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator in a gas of ultracold atoms
• Nonlinear excitations in arrays of Bose-Einstein condensates

Cited by

• Stability of dark solitons in a Bose-Einstein condensate trapped in an optical lattice
• Statics, dynamics, and manipulations of bright matter-wave solitons in optical lattices