Generic model of an atom laser

TL;DR

This paper develops a generic theoretical model of an atom laser incorporating pump and loss mechanisms, analyzing steady-state behavior, transient oscillations, and damping effects, with a modified Thomas-Fermi approach.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive model of an atom laser with pump and loss terms, extending the semi-classical laser theory to matter waves.

Findings

Existence of a pump threshold for steady-state matter field.

Transient oscillations around the stationary solution.

Damped oscillations with position-dependent loss.

Abstract

We present a generic model of an atom laser by including a pump and loss term in the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We show that there exists a threshold for the pump above which the mean matter field assumes a non-vanishing value in steady-state. We study the transient regime of this atom laser and find oscillations around the stationary solution even in the presence of a loss term. These oscillations are damped away when we introduce a position dependent loss term. For this case we present a modified Thomas-Fermi solution that takes into account the pump and loss. Our generic model of an atom laser is analogous to the semi-classical theory of the laser.