Bouncing motion and penetration dynamics in multicomponent Bose-Einstein condensates

TL;DR

This study explores the dynamic bouncing and penetration behaviors of multicomponent Bose-Einstein condensates during collisions, revealing how interaction tuning affects these phenomena.

Contribution

It provides experimental observations and numerical analysis of bouncing and penetration dynamics in binary and ternary BECs, highlighting controllable interaction effects.

Findings

Mutual penetration observed in immiscible condensates

Bouncing occurs between miscible condensates

Penetration time can be tuned by interaction strength adjustments

Abstract

We investigate dynamic properties of bouncing and penetration in colliding binary and ternary Bose-Einstein condensates comprised of different Zeeman or hyperfine states of 87Rb. Through the application of magnetic field gradient pulses, two- or three-component condensates in an optical trap are spatially separated and then made to collide. The subsequent evolutions are classified into two categories: repeated bouncing motion and mutual penetration after damped bounces. We experimentally observed mutual penetration for immiscible condensates, bouncing between miscible condensates, and domain formation for miscible condensates. From numerical simulations of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, we find that the penetration time can be tuned by slightly changing the atomic interaction strengths.