Josephson tunnelling of a phase-imprinted Bose-Einstein condensate in a time-dependent double-well potential

TL;DR

This paper explores controlling atomic Bose-Einstein condensate flow in a double-well potential via phase-imprinting and time-dependent gradients, demonstrating macroscopic quantum tunneling with optimized parameters.

Contribution

It introduces a method to control and optimize Josephson tunneling in Bose-Einstein condensates using phase-imprinting and dynamic potential gradients.

Findings

Maximum effect for condensates with a few thousand atoms

Flow direction control demonstrated through phase-imprinting

Weak dependence on trap geometry

Abstract

This paper discusses the feasibility of experimental control of the flow direction of atomic Bose-Einstein condensates in a double-well potential using phase-imprinting. The flow is induced by the application of a time-dependent potential gradient, providing a clear signature of macroscopic quantum tunneling in atomic condensates. By studying both initial state preparation and subsequent tunneling dynamics we find the parameters to optimise the phase induced Josephson current. We find that the effect is largest for condensates up to a few thousand atoms, and is only weakly-dependent on trap geometry.