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Observation of a modulational instability in Bose-Einstein condensates

P. J. Everitt, M. A. Sooriyabandara, M. Guasoni, P. B. Wigley, C. H. Wei, G. D. McDonald, K. S. Hardman, P. Manju, J. D. Close, C. C. N. Kuhn, S. S. Szigeti, Y. S. Kivshar, and N. P. Robins
Phys. Rev. A 96, 041601(R) – Published 6 October 2017
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    Abstract

    We observe the breakup dynamics of an elongated cloud of condensed Rb85 atoms placed in an optical waveguide. The number of localized spatial components observed in the breakup is compared with the number of solitons predicted by a plane-wave stability analysis of the nonpolynomial nonlinear Schrödinger equation, an effective one-dimensional approximation of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation for cigar-shaped condensates. It is shown that the numbers predicted from the fastest growing sidebands are consistent with the experimental data, suggesting that modulational instability is the key underlying physical mechanism driving the breakup.

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    • Received 15 August 2016
    • Revised 30 May 2017

    DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.96.041601

    Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

    Published by the American Physical Society

    Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

    1. Research Areas
    Bose gasesBose-Einstein condensates
    1. Physical Systems
    Nonlinear wavesSolitons
    Nonlinear DynamicsCondensed Matter, Materials & Applied PhysicsAtomic, Molecular & Optical

    Authors & Affiliations

    P. J. Everitt1, M. A. Sooriyabandara1, M. Guasoni2, P. B. Wigley1, C. H. Wei1,3, G. D. McDonald1, K. S. Hardman1, P. Manju1, J. D. Close1, C. C. N. Kuhn1, S. S. Szigeti4, Y. S. Kivshar2, and N. P. Robins1

    • 1Department of Quantum Science, Research School of Physics and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
    • 2Nonlinear Physics Center, Research School of Physics and Engineering, Australian National University, Canberra ACT 2601, Australia
    • 3Department of Instrument Science and Technology, College of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha 410073, China
    • 4Department of Physics, Centre for Quantum Science, and Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonic and Quantum Technologies, University of Otago, Dunedin 9010, New Zealand

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    Issue

    Vol. 96, Iss. 4 — October 2017

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