Asymmetric tunneling of Bose–Einstein condensates
Abstract
In his celebrated textbook, Quantum Mechanics: Nonrelativistic Theory, Landau argued that, for single particle systems in 1D, tunneling probability remains the same for a particle incident from the left or the right of a barrier. This left–right symmetry of tunneling probability holds regardless of the shape of the potential barrier. However, there are a variety of known cases that break this symmetry, e.g. when observing composite particles. We computationally (and analytically, in the simplest case) show this breaking of the left–right tunneling symmetry for Bose–Einstein condensates (BECs) in 1D, modeled by the Gross–Pitaevskii equation. By varying g, the parameter of inter-particle interaction in the BEC, we demonstrate that the transition from symmetric (g = 0) to asymmetric tunneling is a threshold phenomenon. Our computations employ experimentally feasible parameters such that these results may be experimentally demonstrated in the near future. We conclude by suggesting applications of the phenomena to design atomtronic diodes, synthetic gauge fields, Maxwell’s demons, and black-hole analogues.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Jan 18, 2023
- Source ID
- 10.1088/1361-6455/acae50
Entities
People
- Dennis Schlippert
- Denys I Bondar
- Dustin R Lindberg
- Ernst-maria Rasel
- Jason Williams
- Lev Kaplan
- Naceur Gaaloul
- Patrick Boegel
Organizations
- Army Research Office
- California Institute of Technology
- Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space
- German Aerospace Center
- German Research Foundation
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- W. M. Keck Foundation