arXiv subjects

K. Burnett

Publications and source records attributed to K. Burnett.

48 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv1998

Interacting Fermi gas in a Harmonic Trap

In view of ongoing experiments to trap ultracold spin-polarized $^6$Li, we study various properties of an interacting Fermi gas in a harmonic trap taking the discrete nature of the unperturbed harmonic trap levels into account exactly. As $^6$Li has a rather large and negative scattering length, we focus on the effects of the attractive atom-atom interaction on several thermodynamic properties and on the momentum and density distributions. The dependence of the chemical potential, the specific heat and the density and momentum distributions on the number of particles in the trap is obtained. We also calculate the energy of the gas. Comparison is made with results of a semiclassical calculation and with the properties of a non-interacting gas. We find that the effect of the interactions is rather large for realistic trap frequencies. Hence, it is important to include these interactions in any quantitative predictions relevant for experiments.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv1998

Gapless finite-$T$ theory of collective modes of a trapped gas

We present predictions for the frequencies of collective modes of trapped Bose-condensed $^{87}$Rb atoms at finite temperature. Our treatment includes a self-consistent treatment of the mean-field from finite-$T$ excitations and the anomolous average. This is the first gapless calculation of this type for a trapped Bose-Einstein condensed gas. The corrections quantitatively account for the downward shift in the $m=2$ excitation frequencies observed in recent experiments as the critical temperature is approached.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1998

Phenomenological damping in trapped atomic Bose-Einstein condensates

The method of phenomenological damping developed by Pitaevskii for superfluidity near the $λ$ point is simulated numerically for the case of a dilute, alkali, inhomogeneous Bose-condensed gas near absolute zero. We study several features of this method in describing the damping of excitations in a Bose-Einstein condensate. In addition, we show that the method may be employed to obtain numerically accurate ground states for a variety of trap potentials.

quant-ph↗

arXiv1997

Trapped Bose-Einstein condensates at finite temperature: a two-gas model

A simple picture describes the results of recent treatments of partially-condensed, dilute, trapped Bose gases at temperature T > 0. The condensate wavefunction is nearly identical to that of a T=0 condensate with the same number of condensate atoms, N_0. The cloud of non-condensed atoms is described by the statistical mechanics of an ideal Bose gas in the combined potentials of the magnetic trap and the cloud-condensate interaction. We provide a physical motivation for this result, show how it emerges in the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov-Popov approximation, and explore some of its implications for future experiments.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1997

Formation of fundamental structures in Bose-Einstein Condensates

The meanfield interaction in a Bose condensate provides a nonlinearity which can allow stable structures to exist in the meanfield wavefunction. We discuss a number of examples where condensates, modelled by the one dimensional Gross Pitaevskii equation, can produce gray solitons and we consider in detail the case of two identical condensates colliding in a harmonic trap. Solitons are shown to form from dark interference fringes when the soliton structure, constrained in a defined manner, has lower energy than the interference fringe and an analytic expression is given for this condition.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1997

Theory of Bose-Einstein condensation for trapped atoms

We outline the general features of the conventional mean-field theory for the description of Bose-Einstein condensates at near zero temperatures. This approach, based on a phenomenological model, appears to give excellent agreement with experimental data. We argue, however, that such an approach is not rigorous and cannot contain the full effect of collisional dynamics due to the presence of the mean-field. We thus discuss an alternative microscopic approach and explain, within our new formalism, the physical origin of these effects. Furthermore, we discuss the potential formulation of a consistent finite-temperature mean-field theory, which we claim necessiates an analysis beyond the conventional treatment.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1997

Atom optical elements for Bose condensates

A simple model for atom optical elements for Bose condensate of trapped, dilute alkali atomns is proposed and numerical simulations are presented to illustrate its characteristics. We demonstrate ways of focusing and splitting the condensate by modifying experimentally adjustable parameters. We show that there are at least two ways of implementing atom optical elements: one may modulate the interatomic scattering length in space, or alternatively, use a sinusoidal, externally applied potential.

quant-ph↗

arXiv1997

Collective excitations of Bose-Einstein condensed gases at finite temperatures

We have applied the Popov version of the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) approximation to calculate the finite-temperature excitation spectrum of a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of $^{87}$Rb atoms. For lower values of the temperature, we find excellent agreement with recently-published experimental data for the JILA TOP trap. In contrast to recent comparison of the results of HFB--Popov theory with experimental condensate fractions and specific heats, there is disagreement of the theoretical and recent experimental results near the BEC phase transition temperature.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1997

Quantum and Semiclassical Calculations of Cold Atom Collisions in Light Fields

We derive and apply an optical Bloch equation (OBE) model for describing collisions of ground and excited laser cooled alkali atoms in the presence of near-resonant light. Typically these collisions lead to loss of atoms from traps. We compare the results obtained with a quantum mechanical complex potential treatment, semiclassical Landau-Zener models with decay, and a quantum time-dependent Monte-Carlo wave packet (MCWP) calculation. We formulate the OBE method in both adiabatic and diabatic representations. We calculate the laser intensity dependence of collision probabilities and find that the adiabatic OBE results agree quantitatively with those of the MCWP calculation, and qualitatively with the semiclassical Landau-Zener model with delayed decay, but that the complex potential method or the traditional Landau-Zener model fail in the saturation limit.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv1997

Microscopic Treatment of Binary Interactions in the Non-Equilibrium Dynamics of Partially Bose-condensed Trapped Gases

In this paper we use microscopic arguments to derive a nonlinear Schrödinger equation for trapped Bose-condensed gases. This is made possible by considering the equations of motion of various anomalous averages. The resulting equation explicitly includes the effect of repeated binary interactions (in particular ladders) between the atoms. Moreover, under the conditions that dressing of the intermediate states of a collision can be ignored, this equation is shown to reduce to the conventional Gross-Pitaevskii equation in the pseudopotential limit. Extending the treatment, we show first how the occupation of excited (bare particle) states affects the collisions, and thus obtain the many-body T-matrix approximation in a trap. In addition, we discuss how the bare particle many-body T-matrix gets dressed by mean fields due to condensed and excited atoms. We conclude that the most commonly used version of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation can only be put on a microscopic basis for a restrictive range of conditions. For partial condensation, we need to take account of interactions between condensed and excited atoms, which, in a consistent formulation, should also be expressed in terms of the many-body T-matrix. This can be achieved by considering fluctuations around the condensate mean field beyond those included in the conventional finite temperature mean field, i.e. Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB), theory.

cond-mat.stat-mech↗

arXiv1996

Excitation spectroscopy of vortex states in dilute Bose-condensed gases

We apply linear-response analysis to the Gross-Pitaevskii equation to obtain the excitation frequencies of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a vortex state, and apply it to a system of Rubidium atoms confined in a time-averaged orbiting potential trap. The excitation frequencies of a vortex differ significantly from those of the ground state, and may therefore be used to obtain a spectroscopic signature of the presence of a vortex state.

cond-mat↗

arXiv1996

Collective excitations of atomic Bose-Einstein condensates

We apply linear-response analysis of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation to obtain the excitation frequencies of a Bose-Einstein condensate confined in a time-averaged orbiting potential trap. Our calculated values are in excellent agreement with those observed in a recent experiment.

cond-mat↗