Characterization of the energy level-structure of a trapped dipolar Bose gas via mean-field parametric resonances

Abstract

We report parametric resonances (PRs) in the mean-field dynamics of a one-dimensional dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate (DBEC) in widely varying trapping geometries. The chief goal is to characterize the energy levels of this system by analytical methods and the significance of this study arises from the commonly known fact that in the presence of interactions the energy levels of a trapped BEC are hard to calculate analytically. The latter characterization is achieved by a matching of the PR energies to energy levels of the confining trap using perturbative methods. Further, this work reveals the role of the interplay between dipole-dipole interactions (DDI) and trapping geometry in defining the energies and amplitudes of the PRs. The PRs are induced by a negative Gaussian potential whose depth oscillates with time. Moreover, the DDI play a role in this induction. The dynamics of this system is modeled by the time-dependent Gross- Pitaevskii equation (TDGPE) that is numerically solved by the Crank-Nicolson method. The PRs are discussed basing on analytical methods: first, it is shown that it is possible to reproduce PRs by the Lagrangian variational method that are similar to the ones obtained from TDGPE. Second, the energies at which the PRs arise are closely matched with the energy levels of the corresponding trap calculated by time-independent perturbation theory. Third, the most probable transitions between the trap energy levels yielding PRs are determined by time-dependent perturbation theory. The most significant result of this work is that we have been able to characterize the above mentioned energy levels of a DBEC in a complex trapping potential.