Coherent Ratchets in Driven Bose-Einstein Condensates

Journal Article · Fri Nov 13 00:00:00 EST 2009 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.103.200601· OSTI ID:21370824

Creffield, C E; Sols, F ^[1]

---

1. Departamento de Fisica de Materiales, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, E-28040, Madrid (Spain)

We study the response of a Bose-Einstein condensate to an unbiased periodic driving potential. By controlling the space and time symmetries of the driving we show how a directed current can be induced, producing a coherent quantum ratchet. Weak driving induces a regular behavior, and space and time symmetries must both be broken to produce a current. For strong driving, the behavior becomes chaotic and the resulting effective irreversibility means that it is unnecessary to explicitly break time symmetry. Spatial asymmetry alone is then sufficient to produce the ratchet effect, even in the absence of interactions, and although the system remains completely coherent.

• OSTI ID: 21370824
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 20; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.200601; (c) 2009 The American Physical Society; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

97 MATHEMATICAL METHODS AND COMPUTING
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ASYMMETRY
BOSE-EINSTEIN CONDENSATION
CHAOS THEORY
MATHEMATICAL SPACE
PERIODICITY
SPACE-TIME
SYMMETRY
MATHEMATICS
SPACE
VARIATIONS