Faraday patterns in Bose-Einstein condensates

Abstract

Temporal periodic modulation of the interatomic s-wave scattering length in Bose-Einstein condensates is shown to excite subharmonic patterns of atom density through a parametric resonance. The dominating wavelength of the spatial structures is shown to be primarily selected by the excitation frequency but also affected by the depth of the spatial modulation via a nonlinear resonance. These phenomena represent macroscopic quantum analogues of the Faraday waves excited in vertically shaken liquids.