Abstract
The determination of the maximum number of atoms and the density profile of an ultra-cold wave-packet, under confinement conditions by an attractive impurity near the de-localization threshold, have been an open problem in ultra-cold atom physics. In this work, we study the effect of a wave-guide impurity on an ultra-cold matter wave-packet at the threshold of de-localization. The impurity is modeled by a 1-D square well potential with depth V 0 and length 2R 0. Coupling of the square well potential to a contact impurity of strength β at the center is also considered. The time-independent non-linear Schrödinger equation describing a Bose-Einstein condensate at the delocalization threshold is exactly solved. The density profile, maximum non-linear coupling constant, g max, and maximum number of atoms, N max, prompt to be localized by the defect potential in the ground and first excited states are also reported. It is shown that g max and the density profiles become only functions of the reduced impurity size ξ = √V 0 R 0. It is also found that the first excited state at the threshold of de-localization exists only for ξ ≥ π/(2√2), always holding a lower number of atoms than the corresponding ground state for the same reduced impurity size. Also, the addition of a repulsive contact impurity leads to a non-linear coupling constant at the de-localization threshold lower than that of the square well potential. In spite of the non-linear character of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation, it is found that a general scaling-law holds for defects with the same ξ, related with the same g max, having the same reduced density profile in the quasi-free direction. We report the full width at half maximum for the wave-function and density profile, finding a large spread for small reduced confining conditions. Implications of these results for the determination of the wave-packet properties under confinement in atom chip and Bose-Einstein condensates are presented with the aim to motivate further experimental work.
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Méndez-Fragoso, R., Cabrera-Trujillo, R. Confinement effects on an ultra-cold matter wave-packet by a square well impurity near the de-localization threshold: analytic solutions, scaling, and width properties. Eur. Phys. J. D 69, 139 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2015-50736-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjd/e2015-50736-1