Supercurrent induced by tunneling Bogoliubov excitations in a Bose-Einstein condensate

Abstract

We study the tunneling of Bogoliubov excitations through a barrier in a Bose-Einstein condensate. We extend our previous work [Phys. Rev. A \textbf{78}, 013628 (2008)] to the case when condensate densities are different between the left and right of the barrier potential. In the framework of the Bogoliubov mean-field theory, we calculate the transmission probability and phase shift, as well as the energy flux and quasiparticle current carried by Bogoliubov excitations. We find that Bogoliubov phonons twist the condensate phase due to a back-reaction effect, which induces the Josephson supercurrent. While the total current given by the sum of quasiparticle current and induced supercurrent is conserved, the quasiparticle current flowing through the barrier potential is shown to be remarkably enhanced in the low energy region. When the condensate densities are different between the left and right of the barrier, the excess quasiparticle current, as well as the induced supercurrent, remains finite far away from the barrier. We also consider the tunneling of excitations and atoms through the boundary between the normal and superfluid regions. We show that supercurrent can be generated inside the condensate by injecting free atoms from outside. On the other hand, atoms are emitted when the Bogoliubov phonons propagate toward the phase boundary from the superfluid region.