ż ~ t ! 52 A12z 2 ~ t ! sin@ f ~ t !# , ~2.6a! Mechanical analogs have been useful in visualizing the
SJJ. Equation ~3.1! can be written as
z~ t !
ḟ ~ t ! 5DE1Lz ~ t ! 1 cos@ f ~ t !# , ~2.6b! f̈ 1 ḟ /RC J 1 v 2J sinf 5 ~ I ext /I J ! v 2J ~3.2!
A12z 2 ~ t !
where we have rescaled to a dimensionless time t2K/\→t in unscaled units, with v J 5 AE C E J /\, the Josephson plasma
and frequency. This can be regarded as the equation for a particle
of mass ; v 22 J and position f moving on a tilted, rigid
U 1 2U 2 ‘‘washboard’’ potential 2cosf2(Iext /IJ)f, with friction co-
DE[ ~ E 01 2E 02 ! /2K1 NT , ~2.7a! efficient ;1/RC J . Alternatively, Eq. ~3.1! describes @33# a
4K
rigid pendulum of tilt angle f ; moment of inertia ; v 22 J ;
L[UN T /2K, U[ ~ U 1 1U 2 ! /2 . ~2.7b! angular momentum V} ḟ , the angular velocity; damping rate
(RC J ) 21 ; and external torque ;I ext . The Josephson effects
The dimensionless parameters L and DE determine the dy- in the SJJ follow immediately from physical considerations.
namic regimes of the BEC atomic tunneling. The total, con-
served energy is 1. Plasma oscillations
Lz 2 For I ext 50, the rigid pendulum can have small, harmonic
H5 1DEz2 A12z 2 cosf , ~2.8! oscillations at an angle f around the vertical. Linearizing Eq.
2
~3.1! produces sinusoidal voltage/current plasma oscillations
suggesting that the equations of motion ~2.6! can be written of angular frequency ~in unscaled units!
in the Hamiltonian form
v ' v p [2 p / t p 5 AE c E J /\, ~3.3!
]H ]H
ż52 , ḟ 5 , ~2.9!
]f ]z independent of the initial conditions f (0) and f (0˙ ).
with z and f , the canonically conjugate variables. For well-
2. ac effect
defined mean values in relative population and phase, fluc-
tuations must be small. In the pendulum analogy, the external drive balanced by
the damping enforces steady rotatory motion for I ext /I J .1.
III. THE JOSEPHSON EFFECT IN OTHER SUPERFLUID The phase increases linearly with time f (t);2eVt/\,
AND SUPERCONDUCTING SYSTEMS where V5I ext R is the dc voltage developed, and the current
oscillation has angular frequency
A. The superconducting Josephson junction
. 2 p 2eV
We now consider the SJJ dynamic equations @22–24,33#, v 5 v ac 5 5 , ~3.4!
t ac \
for comparison with the BJJ tunneling equations ~2.6!. The
SJJ has an external closed circuit that typically includes a
independent of f (0) and ḟ (0).
current drive I ext ; the measurable developed voltage across
the junction V is proportional to the rate of change of the
3. Shapiro resonance effect
phase
If a small ac component is added to an applied dc voltage
dV V DE→DE(11 d 0 cosv0t) (d0!1), then at resonance v 0
I ext 5C J 1I J sinf 1 , ~3.1a!
dt R 5 v ac , there is a dc tunneling current with a nonzero time
average ^ ż(t) & ; d 0 ^ sin@vact1f(0)#sinv0t&Þ0. This Shapiro
2eV resonance repeats at higher harmonics v ac 52 p / t ac
ḟ 5 , ~3.1b!
\ 5n v 0 , n51,2, . . . , with characteristic Bessel function co-
efficients J n (n d 0 ) @22,23#.
where C J (I J ) is the junction capacitance ~critical current! Can the BJJ show the full range of SJJ effects? Not at first
and R is the effective resistance offered by the quasiparticle sight since the double-well BEC is a neutral-atom system.
junction and the circuit shunt resistor. The A12z 2 factors of However, the ability to tailor traps and the condensate self-
Eq. ~2.6! are missing here since the external circuit sup- interaction compensates for electrical neutrality @21#. Asym-
presses charge imbalances, i.e., z(t)[0 @22#. The junction metric positioning of the laser barrier could produce a zero-
charging energy E C ;C 21 J ; superconductor-grain charging point energy difference DE, analogous to an applied voltage,
energies E CG ~proportional to the inverse grain sizes!, which since the effective potential experienced by the atoms on the
are the analogs of the interatom interactions U of the BJJ, are smaller-volume side will have a larger curvature. The inter-
relevant only in mesoscopic systems. Two such small iso- well difference between the ~bulk! nonlinear atomic self-
lated grains @34# can be considered a closer superconducting interaction ;UN T z plays the role of a junction capacitance
analog of the BJJ. Even in that case, as N T is still large, the energy in the dynamics.
voltages that appear are 2eV;2D qp , the quasiparticle gap, In the SJJ, E J and N 1,2 are fixed @22,23#. For the BJJ, the
implying that u z u ;1029 . laser-sheet intensity and hence the coupling K can be varied.
PRA 59 COHERENT OSCILLATIONS BETWEEN TWO WEAKLY . . . 623
Initial states N 1 (0)ÞN 2 (0), i.e., z(0)Þ0, can be prepared, IV. THE SYMMETRIC TRAP CASE DE50
and the laser barrier then lowered to permit tunneling. A. Stationary solutions
For a symmetric BJJ, i.e., DE50, the equations of motion
B. The internal Josephson effect in 3 He-A
~2.6! are
A closer analog of the BJJ equations ~2.6! is provided by
the longitudinal magnetic resonance in 3 He-A @25#, which is ż ~ t ! 52 A12z 2 ~ t ! sin@ f ~ t !# , ~4.1a!
generally understood as internal Josephson oscillations be-
tween two interpenetrating populations of superfluid up- z~ t !
spin–down-spin pairs @26#. The weak coupling is provided ḟ ~ t ! 5Lz ~ t ! 1 cos@ f ~ t !# , ~4.1b!
by the dipole interaction between pairs of up and down spins. A12z 2 ~ t !
The spin dynamics is governed by @27#
with the conserved energy
ż ~ t ! 52sin@ f ~ t !# , ~3.5a!
Lz ~ 0 ! 2
H 0 5H @ z ~ 0 ! , f ~ 0 !# 5 2 A12z ~ 0 ! 2 cosf ~ 0 ! .
2
ḟ ~ t ! 5DE1Lz ~ t ! , ~3.5b! ~4.2!
where z(t) is the fractional population imbalance between The ground-state solution of the symmetric BJJ, Eq. ~4.1!,
up-spin–and down-spin Cooper pairs, L}( x g D ) 21 with x is a symmetric eigenfunction of the GPE with energy E 1
and g D the susceptibility and the dipole coupling, respec- 521 and
tively, and DE}(B/ x g D ) with B the external applied static
magnetic field. In @25# experiments have confirmed Eqs. f s 52n p , ~4.3a!
~3.5!, showing the transition between the small-amplitude
and ringing oscillations of the pendulum equations ~3.5!. z s 50. ~4.3b!
A
2m 3
ḟ ~ t ! 52 D P, ~3.6b! 1
\r z s 56 12 , ~4.5b!
L2
with 2m 3 the mass of a 3 He Cooper pair, r the liquid den- provided u L u .1. The energy for this state is E sb 5 21 (L
sity, and D P the pressure difference across the weak 11/L).
link being proportional to the elastic constant of the mem- These z-symmetry breaking states are an artifact of the
brane. Small- and large-amplitude oscillations have been ob- semiclassical limit in which the GPE has been derived. In a
served, as well as the driven running solutions of the phase full quantum two-mode approximation the eigenstates are
2`, f ,` @36#, corresponding to a self-maintained popu- always symmetric in the population imbalance: As we will
lation across the weak link. discuss later, such states have a large lifetime that scales
By driving the soft membrane in resonance with the natu- exponentially with the total number of atoms.
ral Josephson frequency, a metastable dynamical regime was
observed, with the time-averaged value of the phase differ-
B. Rabi oscillations
ence across the junction equal to p . These metastable p
oscillations have amplitudes and frequencies smaller than the For noninteracting atoms (L50) Eqs. ~4.1! describe
‘‘stable’’ Josephson oscillations, into which they decay with sinusoidal Rabi oscillations between the two traps with fre-
a lifetime that increases with decreasing temperature @28#. quency v R 5(2/\)K. These oscillations are equivalent to a
Analogous p oscillations with similar properties are de- single-atom dynamics, rather than a Josephson effect arising
scribed by the BJJ ~see Sec. IV!. In a different context, p from the interacting superfluid condensate. The possibility of
junctions have been created with high-T c superconductors tuning the scattering length to values very close to zero @7#
that reflect the symmetry of the d-wave pairing state @37#. opens avenues for their experimental observation.
624 S. RAGHAVAN, A. SMERZI, S. FANTONI, AND S. R. SHENOY PRA 59
FIG. 2. Population imbalance z(t) as a function of dimensionless time 2Kt ~in units of \), with conditions L510 and f (0)50 in a
symmetric trap. The initial population imbalance z(0) takes the values ~a! 0.1, ~b! 0.5, ~c! 0.59, ~d! 0.6, and ~e! 0.65.
fixed value of the initial population imbalance, if the self- ^ f & 5 p . The modes arise once more from the nonrigidity
interaction parameter L exceeds a critical value L c , the ~momentum-dependent length! of the pendulum and are not
populations become macroscopically self-trapped with ^ z & observable with the SJJ. They include small-amplitude,
Þ0. There are different ways in which this state can be large-amplitude, and macroscopic self-trapped oscillations.
achieved, and all of them correspond to the condition @which The last has a nonzero average population imbalance, while
we shall term the macroscopic quantum self-trapping ^ z & 50 for the others. We summarize this behavior in the
~MQST! condition# that temporal evolution of z(t) in Fig. 3 for z(0)50.6 and
f (0)5 p . L takes the values 0.1, 1.1, 1.111, 1.2, 1.25, and
L
z ~ 0 ! 2 2 A12z ~ 0 ! 2 cos@ f ~ 0 !# .1.
1.3 in Figs. 3~a!–3~f!, respectively.
H 0 [H„z ~ 0 ! , f ~ 0 ! …5
2
~4.8! 1. Small-amplitude oscillations
In a series of experiments in which f (0) and z(0) are kept For small z, Eqs. ~4.1! can be linearized around the fixed
constant but L is varied ~by changing the geometry or the point ~4.4b! yielding harmonic oscillations for L,1, with a
total number of condensate atoms, for example!, the critical period ~in unscaled units!
parameter for MQST is
t p21 5 A~ 2K! 2 22UN T K /2p \. ~4.10!
11 A12z ~ 0 ! cos@ f ~ 0 !#
2
L c5 . ~4.9! It is worth noticing that the ratio of the frequency of the
z ~ 0 ! 2 /2 small-amplitude zero- and p -mode phase oscillations is
t L / t p 5 A(12L)/(11L), ,1 ~similar to the 3 He-B p
On the other hand, changing the initial value of the popula-
oscillations of Sec. III!.
tion imbalance z(0) with a fixed trap geometry and total
Linearizing Eqs. ~4.1! in z only, the BJJ equation ~4.1b!
number of condensate atoms @and initial value f (0)], L
reduces to the very simple form
remains constant and Eq. ~4.8! defines a critical population
imbalance z c . As we shall see in this and Sec. IV E, for
f (0)50, if z(0).z c , MQST sets in, but for f (0)5 p , f̈ 52 @ Lsin~ f ! 1 21 sin~ 2 f !# 1O ~ z 2 ! . ~4.11!
z(0),z c marks the region of MQST. More generally, if
This suggests a mechanical analogy in which a particle of
u f (0) u < p /2, MQST occurs for z(0).z c , while for other
spatial coordinate f moves in the potential
values of f (0), it occurs for z(0),z c .
In this section we will discuss the type of MQST in which 1
the phase difference of the order parameter across the BJJ V ~ f ! 52Lcos~ f ! 2 cos~ 2 f ! 1O ~ z 2 ! . ~4.12!
runs without bound; other types of MQST are discussed 4
later. The phenomenon can be understood through the pen-
In Fig. 4 we see that V( f ) has a small valley around f
dulum analogy. If the population imbalances are prepared
5p where the particle can oscillate. The depth of this valley
such that the initial angular kinetic energy of the pendulum
decreases as L→1. The valley persists in the full potential
z 2 (0) exceeds the potential energy barrier height of the ver-
for V( f ), retaining all the higher-order terms in z.
tically displaced f 5 p ‘‘pendulum orientation,’’ a steady
self-sustained pendulum rotation will occur, with nonzero
2. Large-amplitude oscillations
angular momentum ^ z & and a closed-loop trajectory around
the pendulum support. For H 0 ,1 the population imbalance For p -phase oscillations, the momentum-dependent
oscillates about a zero value. For H 0 .1 the time-averaged length allows the pendulum’s bob to make inverted anhar-
angular momentum is nonzero ^ z(t) & Þ0, with oscillations monic oscillations with ^ z & 50 around the ~top of the! verti-
around this nonzero value ~Fig. 2!. MQST is a nonlinear cal axis. For large amplitude z(t) oscillations, L can exceed
effect arising from the self-interaction ;UN T z 2 of the at- unity, as shown in Fig. 3~b!.
oms. It is dependent on the trap parameters, total number of
atoms, and initial conditions and is self-maintained in a 3. Oscillations with macroscopic quantum self-trapping
closed conservative system without external drives. Al- Here the nonrigidity allows the pendulum’s bob to make a
though the SJJ ac effect in the RCSJ model involves a run- closed ^ z & Þ0 rotation loop around the top of the vertical
ning phase, it is clearly physically different from MQST, as axis. There are two kinds of such p -phase modes with
it is a driven steady-state independent of initial conditions. MQST: those where the time average ^ z & , u z s u Þ0 and those
Moreover, in the SJJ the Cooper pair population imbalance is where ^ z & . u z s u Þ0, with z s being the stationary z-symmetry
zero because of the external circuit. MQST differs from breaking value of the GPE. These two kinds of MQST are
single-electron Coulomb blockade effect. It also differs from shown in the time evolution of z(t) in Figs. 3~d!–3~f!. In
the self-trapping of polarons @32# that arise from single elec- Fig. 3~d! the system is in the first type of trapped state. A
trons interacting with a polarizable lattice: arising, instead, changeover occurs at the stationary state @Fig. 3~e!,dashed
from self-interaction of a macroscopically large number of line#. Once L exceeds this value L s 51/A12z(0) 2 @cf. Eq.
coherent atoms. ~4.5!#, the system goes into the second type of p -phase
trapped state @Fig. 3~f!#.
E. p -phase modes In order to see these different kinds of ~running- and
These modes describe the tunneling dynamics in which p -phase! MQST modes more transparently, one can use the
the time-averaged value of the phase across the junction is energy H5H 0 of Eq. ~4.2! to write the system of equations
626 S. RAGHAVAN, A. SMERZI, S. FANTONI, AND S. R. SHENOY PRA 59
FIG. 3. z(t) as a function of 2Kt with initial conditions z(0)50.6 and f (0)5 p in a symmetric trap. L takes the values ~a! 0.1, ~b! 1.1,
~c! 1.111, ~d! 1.2, ~e! 1.25, and ~f! 1.3.
FIG. 5. z potential W(z) ~in arbitrary units! plotted against z in FIG. 6. Inverse period ~scaled in units of 2K) 1/t plotted
~a! and ~c! and the corresponding f evolution shown in ~b! and ~d!. against z(0)/z c for ~a! f (0)50 and ~b! f (0)5 p . In ~a! the dashed
In ~a! and ~b! f (0)50 and in ~c! and ~d! f (0)5 p . The values of line corresponds to L510, for which the dip occurs at z c 50.6, and
z(0) are as shown. the solid line to L5100, for which z c 50.2. The inset in ~a! shows
the time-averaged population imbalance ^ z & as a function of
Let us now focus our attention on Figs. 5~c! and 5~d!. For z(0)/z c . In ~b! L51.1 and z c 50.6.
L52.5 and f (0)5 p , the z potential always has a double-
well structure and the system is self-trapped for all values
of z(0). For small values of z(0), the phase f (t) is un- as a function of z(0)/z c . MQST is signaled by the sharp
bounded and the system exhibits running-phase MQST. ~phase-transition-like! rise of ^ z & from zero to a nonzero
However, above a certain value of z(0)52z s 52 A121/L 2 value. For f (0)5 p @Fig. 6~b!# something different happens.
~with ^z& still nonzero! the phase f (t) becomes localized MQST occurs for values of the initial imbalance z(0) less
around p and remains bounded for all larger values of than z c . At z(0)5z c the time period diverges and for larger
z(0). In Figs. 5~c! and 5~d! z(0)50.7 and 0.98 mark the two values of z(0), MQST disappears.
different kinds of p -phase MQST since they are on either The dynamical behavior of the BJJ system can be sum-
side of the stationary state value of z s 5 A121/L 2 . This marized quite conveniently in terms of a phase portrait of the
point will become more clear in the phase-plane portrait of two dynamical variables z and f , as shown in Fig. 7. The
Fig. 7. trajectories are calculated for different values of L/L c with
z(0) kept constant at 0.6. The light solid lines mark the
F. Discussion of results evolution for the evolution where the phase f oscillates
A clear observational feature of the behavior of the sys- around 0 and ^ z & 50. The running mode MQST is shown by
tem is the time period of oscillations. To this end, we plot in the trajectories with small dots for L/L c 51,1.5 with the
Fig. 6 the inverse period 1/t as a function of the ratio be- initial condition being f (0)50. Note that for a rigid pendu-
tween the initial population imbalance z(0) and the critical lum @without the A12z 2 term in the Hamiltonian in Eq.
population imbalance z c . Figure 6~a! shows the case for ~2.8!#, one would obtain only the curves described thus far.
f (0)50 and L510 (z c 50.6) ~dashed line! and L However, for the BJJ, due to the momentum-dependent po-
5100 (z c 50.2) ~solid line!. The initial parts of the graph tential in Eq. ~2.8!, there is considerable richness as exhib-
for z(0)!z c mark sinusoidal small-amplitude ~plasma! os- ited by the dark solid lines, dashed lines, and lines with large
cillations @Fig. 2~a!#. On increasing z(0), the oscillations be- dots. All these curves correspond to f (0)5 p . Note, for in-
come highly anharmonic, with the inverse period that first stance, that as L/L c increases and approaches unity, the area
increases and then decreases, displaying a critical slowing enclosed by the trajectory shrinks and is pinched at L5L c
down. The logarithmic divergence of the time period at marking the onset of p -phase MQST with ^ z & , u z s u ~dashed
z(0)5z c is marked by the hyperbolic secant evolution of line!. Upon further increase, the area collapses to a point at
z(t) @Fig. 2~d!#. In the inset we show the average value ^ z & the z5z s stationary z-symmetry breaking state. A further in-
628 S. RAGHAVAN, A. SMERZI, S. FANTONI, AND S. R. SHENOY PRA 59
FIG. 10. Analog of the Shapiro effect: dc current I dc 5 ^ ż & versus the trap asymmetry parameter scaled in the applied frequency DE/ v 0 .
Here z(0)50.045, f (0)5 p /2, DE 1 / v 0 \53.5, and dashed ~thick solid! lines are for L50 (1000).
V. THE ASYMMETRIC TRAP CASE DEÞ0 2DEz(0)#/(11DE2), as in the inset. This corresponds to an
A. Exact solutions and temporal behavior averaged pendulum rotation ^ z & ;2DE,0, opposite in sign
to the initial z(0).0, but slowing to zero as the critical value
Let us now consider the case where the traps are asym- is approached. For L.L c (DE), in the MQST regime, the
metric, i.e., DEÞ0, as in Fig. 1, with the Hamiltonian averaged rotation ^ z & .0 is in the initial direction of z(0)
Lz 2 .0, with ^ z & approaching the initial z(0) value for large L,
H5 1DEz2 A12z 2 cosf . ~5.1! as in the DE50 case of Fig. 8.
2
B. Shapiro effect analogs
For Lz(0)!DE, the nonrigid pendulum is driven to rotate
in a direction determined by DE ~corresponding to the ac Let us now consider the BJJ analog of the Shapiro reso-
Josephson-like effect!. With DE50 and L.L c @of Eq. nance effect observed in the SJJ @23#. In addition to a time-
~4.9!#, we had found that the pendulum also executes rota- independent trap asymmetry DE, we impose a sinusoidal
tory motion, in a direction determined by z(0). For Lz(0) variation so that we can write the asymmetry term as DE
@DEÞ0, we expect this type of motion to persist ~corre- 1DE 1 cosv0t. This could be done by varying the laser barrier
sponding to MQST due to nonlinearity!. In between there position at fixed intensity. A similar Shapiro-like resonance
should be a competition between the two effects and a tran- effect could be seen, with an oscillation of the laser beam
sition at some shifted critical value L5L c (DE). This physi- intensity, at fixed midposition, so K→K(11 d 0 cosv0t). The
cal picture for DEÞ0 is confirmed by obtaining z(t) in analog of the Shapiro effect arises when the period from the
terms of Weierstrassian elliptic functions that change their time-independent asymmetry ;1/DE matches that from the
behavior at a singular value L5L c (DE). oscillatory increment ;1/v 0 . This matching condition is in-
We show in Fig. 9 that the MQST phenomena ~inverse- timately connected with the phenomenon of Bloch oscilla-
period dip and average nonzero imbalance! persist in the tions and dynamic localization in crystals and trapping in
DEÞ0 case and display a dependence on L and DE. Figure two-level atoms @38#. The dc value of the drift current
9 shows the scaled inverse period t ac / t versus the scaled ^ ż(t) & , as a function of DE, will show up as resonant spikes.
nonlinearity ratio L/L c (DE), where t ac is as in Eq. ~4.7!, ~For the SJJ, with current drives, the Shapiro effect shows up
with z(0)50.1, DE51.0, and f (0)50,p . The dip to zero at as steps in the I-V characteristics.! Of course, the dc drift
the onset of MQST is clearly seen. The inset shows the time- cannot persist indefinitely because the phase difference be-
averaged ^ z & for f (0)50,p , vanishing at L5L c (DE). tween the condensates on the two parts of the BJJ will cease
Whereas for DE50 and L,L c (DE50) the average popu- to be a well-defined quantity once the population in one well
lation imbalance was zero, for DEÞ0 we have ^ z & Þ0 in the drops below N min .
corresponding sub-critical region L,L c (DE). This is Figure 10 shows I dc } ^ ż(t) & obtained from time averaging
analogous to a voltage across a capacitor inducing a charge the numerical solution, with a small ac drive and DEÞ0. It is
difference and the external static magnetic field in the case of plotted as a function of DE/ v 0 for increasing values of the
3
He-A. Note that there is a combined influence of L,DE and nonlinearity ratio L. The initial conditions are z(0);0
f (0), so ^ z & can be larger ~in magnitude! than z(0). In 50.045 and f (0)5 p /2, for which L c ;1000 ~in the ab-
particular, for L→0, ^ z & →2DE @ A12z 2 (0)cosf(0) sence of DE and ac driving!. When L is zero, sharp peaks in
630 S. RAGHAVAN, A. SMERZI, S. FANTONI, AND S. R. SHENOY PRA 59
I dc occur at the usual Shapiro condition values DE}n v 0 ,n The nonlinear interaction in the GPE destroys such a super-
51,2, . . . . As L increases, however, two things happen. position. In effect, if the condensate density in the tunneling
First, multiple peaks also occur at DE/ v 0 values different region is small ~as it is the case for weak links! the nonlinear
from integers. Close to the MQST regime (L;L c ), there is interaction in that region is negligible and the superposition
a proliferation of peaks as the system moves from a regime ansatz is preserved.
of constant current ^ ż & Þ0 (L small! to one of constant ~ii! We factorize the temporal and the spatial dependence
population imbalance ^ z & Þ0 (L large!. Second, the magni- of the GPE wave function describing the condensate in each
tude of the peaks or dc currents decreases. Finally, we note trap. Later in this section we will discuss the limit of validity
that for DE larger than the Bogoliubov quasiparticle gap D qp of this approximation.
and high enough temperatures, a dissipative quasiparticle The spatial dependence of F 1,2(r) can be constructed by
branch might be observable. the exact symmetric F 1 (r) and antisymmetric F 2 (r) sta-
tionary eigenstates of the GPE ~see Sec. IV!:
VI. SUMMARY
F 1 1F 2
F 1~ r ! 5 , ~A2a!
We have investigated the Josephson dynamics in two 2
weakly linked Bose-Einstein condensates forming a boson
Josephson junction. In the resulting nonlinear two-mode F 1 2F 2
model, we have described the temporal oscillations of the F 2~ r ! 5 , ~A2b!
2
population imbalance of the condensates in terms of elliptic
functions. Our predictions include nonsinusoidal generaliza- ensuring that
tions of Josephson dc, ac, and Shapiro effects. We also pre-
dict macroscopic quantum self-trapping, which is a self-
maintained population imbalance across the junction due to E F 1 ~ r ! F 2 ~ r ! dr50, ~A3!
atomic self-interaction, and p oscillations, in which the
phase difference across the junction oscillates around p . We where we impose the normalization condition
E
clarify the connection and the differences between these phe-
nomena and others occurring in related systems such as the u F 1,2~ r ! u 2 dr51. ~A4!
superconducting Josephson junctions, the internal Josephson
effect in 3 He-A, and Josephson oscillations between two
Replacing Eqs. ~A1! and ~A2! in the GPE ~2.1!, and using
weakly linked reservoirs of 3 He-B. Through a set of func-
the orthogonality condition ~A3!, we obtain the BJJ equa-
tional relations, we also predict the collapse of experimental
tions
data ~corresponding to different trap geometries and total
number of condensate atoms! onto a single universal curve. ]c1
These effects constitute experimentally testable signatures of i\ 5 ~ E 01 1U 1 N 1 ! c 1 2Kc 2 ~A5a!
quantum phase coherence and the superfluid character of ]t
weakly interacting Bose-Einstein condensates.
]c2
i\ 5 ~ E 02 1U 2 N 2 ! c 2 2Kc 1 , ~A5b!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ]t
EF G
The values of the constant parameters in the BJJ equa-
\2
tions ~2.3!, K, E 0 , and U, depend on the geometry ~and K.2 ~ ¹F 1 ¹F 2 ! 1F 1 V ext F 2 dr. ~A6c!
effective dimensionality! of the system and the total number 2m
of condensate atoms. We now outline their dependence in
We now return to our variational ansatz C(r,t)
terms of spatial GPE wave functions, elucidating the ap-
proximations underlying the BJJ equations. 5 c 1 (t)F 1 (r)1 c 2 (t)F 2 (r). The parameters U and DE are
We look for the solution of the ~time-dependent! GPE proportional to the wave-function overlaps, are N T depen-
~2.1! with the variational ansatz dent, but are independent of z(t), so the chemical potential
difference is considered linear in z. This approximation cap-
C ~ r,t ! 5 c 1 ~ t ! F 1 ~ r ! 1 c 2 ~ t ! F 2 ~ r ! . ~A1! tures the dominant z dependence of the tunneling equations
coming from the scale factors c 1,2} AN 1,2, but ignores shape
There are two approximations underlying this ansatz. changes in the wave functions for N 1 (t)ÞN 2 (t). We can
~i! We describe the temporal evolution of the Gross- estimate such corrections to the chemical potential difference
Pitaevskii wave function as the superposition of two wave D m [ m 1 2 m 2 within the Thomas-Fermi approximation m 1,2
functions ~roughly! describing the condensate in each trap. ;N 2/5
1,2;(N T /2) (16z) . Then relative corrections to the
2/5 2/5
PRA 59 COHERENT OSCILLATIONS BETWEEN TWO WEAKLY . . . 631
F G
cn(u,k)'sechu2(12k 2 )/4(tanhu sechu)(sinhucoshu2u)
Lz 2 2
ż 2 1 1DEz2H 0 512z 2 . ~B2! becomes nonperiodic. When k 2 @1, the behavior is again pe-
2 riodic ~but about a nonzero average!: dn(u,1/k)'1
2(sin2u)/2k 2 .
The nonlinear Gross-Pitaevskii tunneling equations for the The time period of the oscillation of z(t) is given @43# by
H
macroscopic amplitudes c 1 (t) and c 2 (t) are formally iden-
tical to equations governing a physically very different prob- 4kK ~ k !
lem: a single electron in a polarizable medium, forming a for 0,k,1 ~B7a!
CL
polaron @32#. Solutions have been found @32,40–42# for the t5
discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation describing the mo- 2K ~ 1/k !
tion of the polaron between two sites of a dimer. Similarly, CL
for k.1. ~B7b!
we use Eq. ~B2! to obtain the exact solution for z(t) in terms
of quadratures
In the linear limit, t → p / A11L, in agreement with the ex-
Lt
5 E z~ 0 ! dz pression for t p in Eq. ~4.7!. As k→1 or L→L c , the period
AS D F G
. becomes infinite, as in a critical slowing down, diverging
2 z~ t ! 2 2
2 2zDE 2H 0 logarithmically, K(k)→ln(4/A12k 2 ). The evolution of the
~ 12z 2 ! 2 z 2 1 2
L L L imbalance is given, in this special case, by the nonoscillatory
~B3! hyperbolic secant (C52 AL c 21/L c )
We consider the DE50 and DEÞ0 cases separately. For z ~ t ! 5C cn@~ CL c !~ t2t 0 ! ,1# 5C sechCL c ~ t2t 0 !
symmetric double wells DE50, the denominator of Eq. ~B3!
can be factorized, so for k51. ~B8!
z~ t !
dz
A~ a 2 1z 2 !~ C 2 2z 2 !
, ~B4! integral of Eq. ~B3! is split into two parts
where
Lt Lt 0
2
5
2
1 E z1
z~ 0 !
dz 8
Af ~ z 8 !
, ~B9!
C 25
L
2
2 F ~ H 0 L21 ! 1
z2
2
,G a 25
2
L2
@ z 2 2 ~ H 0 L21 !# , where Lt 0 /2 is the integral from z 1 to z(0), and z 1 is a root
of the quartic
~B5a!
z ~ L ! 52 AL 1122H 0 L.
2 2
~B5b!
f ~ z !5 SD2
L
2
F
~ 12z 2 ! 2 z 2 1
2zDE 2H 0 2
L
2
L
. G
The solution to Eq. ~B4! is written in terms of the cn and dn Taylor expanding f (z) around z, with the change of vari-
Jacobian elliptic functions ~with k the elliptic modulus @43#! able y5y(z)5 @ f 8 (z 1 )/4# (z2z 1 ) 21 1 f 9 (z 1 )/24 for which
as y(z 1 )5`, the integral in Eq. ~B9! is cast in a standard form
632 S. RAGHAVAN, A. SMERZI, S. FANTONI, AND S. R. SHENOY PRA 59
EA
L ~ t2t 0 ! ` dy 8 to a difference or disorder in on-site electronic or excitonic
5 , ~B10! energies.
2 y 4y 8 3 2g 2 y 8 2g 3 For DE50 we found that the elliptic modulus k 2 gov-
erned the behavior of the Jacobian elliptic function solutions.
which can be inverted as a Weierstrassian elliptic function
For DEÞ0, the discriminant d 5g 32 227g 23 of the cubic h(y)
y5`„L(t2t 0 )/2;g 2 ,g 3 …. Thus
~with roots y 1,2,3 ) governs the behavior of the Weierstrassian
f 8 ~ z 1 ! /4 elliptic functions @43#. For d Þ0, the solutions are oscillatory
z ~ t ! 5z 1 1 . ~B11! about a nonzero average, ^ z & Þ0. For d 50, ^ z & 50 and the
` ~ L ~ t2t 0 ! /2;g 2 ,g 3 ! 2 f 9 ~ z 1 ! /24 time period diverges, corresponding to L5L c (DE), the on-
set of MQST.
In Eq. ~B10! the constants in the cubic equation h(y)54y 3 The time period of the oscillation can be written in terms
2g 2 y2g 3 are determined from the coefficients a i of f (z) of complete elliptic integrals of the first kind K(k) as in the
5 ( 4l50 a l14 z l as DE50 case of Eq. ~B7!. However, the argument and pref-
actors are different, with
g 2 52a 4 24a 1 a 3 13a 22 ,
where
g 3 52a 2 a 4 12a 1 a 2 a 3 2a 32 1a 23 2a 21 a 4 ,
DE 2
~B12!
t5
H K ~ k 1 ! / ~ y 1 2y 3 !
K ~ k 2 ! / A3y 22 2 14 g 2
` for d 50, g 3 <0.
for d .0
for d ,0 ~B14!
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