Reproducible mesoscopic superpositions of Bose-Einstein condensates and mean-field chaos

Abstract

In a parameter regime for which the mean-field (Gross-Pitaevskii) dynamics becomes chaotic, mesoscopic quantum superpositions in phase space can occur in a double-well potential which is shaken periodically. For experimentally realistic initial states like the ground state of some 100 atoms, the emergence of mesoscopic quantum superpositions in phase space is investigated numerically. It is shown to be reproducible even if the initial conditions slightly change. While the final state is not a perfect superposition of two distinct phase-states, the superposition is reached an order of magnitude faster than in the case of the collapse and revival phenomenon. Furthermore, a generator of entanglement is identified.