Home

Semiclassical analysis of quantum dynamics in the bosonic Josephson junction


  M. Chuchem [1]  ,  K. Smith-Mannschott [2,3]  ,  M. Hiller [4]  ,  T. Kottos [2]  ,  A. Vardi [5,6]  ,  D. Cohen [1]  
 [1] Department of Physics, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
[2] Department of Physics, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut 06459, USA
[3] MPI for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Bunsenstrasse10, D-37073G¨ottingen, Germany
[4] Physics Institute, Albert-Ludwigs-Universit¨at, Hermann-Herder-Str. 3, D-79104 Freiburg, Germany
[5] Department of Chemistry, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, P.O.B. 653, Beer-Sheva 84105, Israel
[6] ITAMP, Harvard-Smithsonian CFA, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA

We employ a semiclassical picture to study dynamics in a bosonic Josephson junction with various initial conditions. Phase-diffusion of coherent preparations in the Josephson regime is shown to depend on the initial relative phase between the two condensates. For initially incoherent condensates, we find a universal value for the buildup of coherence in the Josephson regime. In addition, we contrast two seemingly similar on-separatrix coherent preparations, finding striking differences in their convergence to classicality as the number of particles increases.