Generation of nonground-state Bose-Einstein condensates by modulating atomic interactions

TL;DR

This paper proposes a method to generate nonground-state Bose-Einstein condensates by modulating atomic interactions with a magnetic field, inducing phase transitions and excited states in realistic experimental setups.

Contribution

It introduces a novel technique using temporal modulation of atomic interactions to create and control excited states in Bose-Einstein condensates.

Findings

Phase-transition-like behavior observed in population imbalance.

Technique feasible with current experimental conditions.

Excited nonlinear modes can be reliably generated.

Abstract

A technique is proposed for creating nonground-state Bose-Einstein condensates in a trapping potential by means of the temporal modulation of atomic interactions. Applying a time-dependent spatially homogeneous magnetic field modifies the atomic scattering length. An alternating modulation of the scattering length excites the condensate, which, under special conditions, can be transferred to an excited nonlinear coherent mode. It is shown that there occurs a phase-transition-like behavior in the time-averaged population imbalance between the ground and excited states. The application of the suggested technique to realistic experimental conditions is analyzed and it is shown that the considered effect can be realized for experimentally available condensates.